Federal Vehicles and Fleets

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) helps federal fleets plan for adopting zero-emission vehicles and for reducing on-road greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

NRCan’s Greening Government Fleets program provides an expanded suite of services to federal organizations and works with fleet managers to find strategic and sustainable mobility solutions tailored to their operational needs.

Greening Government Strategy

Consistent with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, the Greening Government Strategy sets the Government of Canada on the path to achieve net-zero emissions in its operations by 2050.

The government will adopt low-carbon mobility solutions, deploy supporting infrastructure in its facilities, and modernize its fleets in the following ways.

On-road fleet targets

• The government will prioritize zero-emissions options for all new vehicle and mobile equipment purchases where suitable options are available and considering operational feasibility
• Starting in 2025, 100% of new light-duty fleet vehicle purchases will be zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs), with the objective that the government’s light-duty fleet comprises 100% ZEVs by 2030
• By 2030, at least 40% of new commercial medium- and heavy-duty vehicle purchases will be ZEVs
• Fleet management will be optimized to achieve the targets, including by maintaining a long-term strategic fleet greening plan, establishing internal policies and controls to prioritize ZEVs, right-sizing fleets and vehicles, promoting energy-efficient operating practices, and applying telematics to analyze vehicle usage data and inform EV charging needs
• By 2030, the RCMP’s national safety and security fleet (NSSF) will comprise 50% ZEVs, increasing to 100% ZEVs by 2035.

Learn more about the Greening Government Strategy.

Federal fleet snapshot

• 
  
  ~17,200
  Conventional
  light-duty vehicles

• 
  
  ~23,000
  National safety and
  security land vehicles^*

• 
  
  ~2,300
  Commercial
  vehicles

• 
  
  ~7,100
  Other
  vehicles^**

* Includes: light-duty vehicles, standard military pattern vehicles, and commercial & other vehicles.
** Includes: off-road vehicles, industrial equipment, etc.

Fleet telematics and analysis

Benchmarking: By installing a telematics data logger in their vehicles, fleet managers will gain valuable insight into daily, weekly, monthly, and annual vehicle utilization patterns, allowing them to report fuel use and GHG emissions more accurately.

Fleet right-sizing analysis: By allowing fleet managers to apply customizable vehicle utilization thresholds to their fleet, the telematics web portal can help identify underutilized assets and present opportunities for route and duty-cycle optimization.

Zero-emission and low-carbon vehicle suitability assessments: Evidence-based modeling provides fleet managers with recommendations for green vehicle alternatives, including battery-electric, and plug-in hybrids. By using real-world utilization data, the analysis ensures that replacement options are operationally suitable and fiscally responsible.

Infrastructure requirements: The analysis of the fleet’s usage profile and anticipated zero-emission vehicle deployment provides managers with strategic infrastructure recommendations. This information will ensure they choose the optimal number of chargers to support their adoption of plug-in electric vehicles.

Behavioural change: Telematics identify carbon-intensive driving habits such as idling, hard braking and hard acceleration. This knowledge can help fleets implement the necessary behavioural changes to reduce their on-road emissions immediately. Visit our free online ecoDriving course to learn how energy-efficient driving can significantly reduce fleet-related GHG emissions.

If your organization is interested in ecoDriving for employees, federal departments and agencies can request a corporate login account by contacting GGO-Fleets.

Charging infrastructure readiness assessments

Through a comprehensive review of a facility’s existing electrical service, spare capacity, and demand profile, infrastructure readiness assessments can help fleets plan for the procurement and installation of electric vehicle chargers.

Assessments not only provide information on the amount and level of chargers that a facility can accommodate, but they also identify any electrical service upgrades that may be required to support a fleet of plug-in electric vehicles. Vehicle usage data is also incorporated to ensure infrastructure plans are aligned with the fleet ’s operational requirements.

Resources

Greening Government Fleets – A helpful guide to understanding best practices

A road map for the successful decarbonization of government fleets. The best practices and steps outlined in this guide will help lay the foundation to transition the fleets of today into the lower-carbon and zero-emission fleets of tomorrow.