University of California, San Diego
OP-15: Campus Fleet

UC San Diego is committed to supporting alternative fuels and clean technology in its fleet. Among the actions taken to promote our carbon reduction efforts include the following: 

ACQUISITION GOALS

Aggressively working towards the UC Office of the President sustainability goal of ZEV vehicle acquisitions. The goal requires at least 50% of total annual vehicle acquisitions to be ZEV or PHEV, with 100% of sedans and minivans being ZEV or PHEV. Fleet Services are proud to say that 77% of vehicles purchased this year have been ZEV/PHEV. Supporting and educating departments during vehicle selection and purchasing, centrally screening and approving all vehicle purchase requests and partnering with IPPS Procurement team to spread awareness and workflows to capture all vehicle requests across campus. 

Introducing ZEV into our rental fleet, for customers to rent daily. These include 2 EV sedans, 5 PHEV sedans, 4 EV LSV’s and soon a Ford Lightning EV truck. Not only does this showcase Fleet Services' and UCSD commitment to Carbon Neutrality, but it also gives customers the ability to try out the vehicles and see how they can support their own operations. This drastically helps to reduce the hesitation for customers to replace their ICE vehicles with EV’s. It also brings awareness to EV’s and helps introduce customers to EV’s when they would not have considered them otherwise. (https://transportation.ucsd.edu/departments/fleet/rent.html)  

Fleet Services supports the vehicles used by Campus and Health. We provide a full range of services to support the continued operation of ZEV and Alternative fueled vehicles. We aim to remove barriers that prevent the use of ZEV and Alt fuels on campus. The two most notable barriers are access to alternative fuel sources and maintenance of new technology. 

PROVIDING ONSITE RENEWABLE FUEL SOURCES 

Fleet Services manages two onsite fueling stations, providing financially economical and operational convenience to our customers. The first is the fuel island, centrally located at the Campus Services Complex, which dispenses Renewable Diesel. The Second is the CNG station off Voigt Drive, which dispensed Renewable Natural Gas produced from Dairy Farms. We have eliminated the option to use regular fossil fuel derived diesel and CNG, so customers have no choice but to use renewable fuel sources. Fleet Services partners with Transportation, to make EV charging easy for UCSD Fleet users. While Transportation owns and manages the EV changing stations spread across the Campus, Fleet service provides a seamless service for Fleet customers by managing charging accounts and billing at no effort to the customer. This reduces admin time for our customers and enables us to have central oversite of Fleet charging to track metrics and trends to support operational decision making. 

PROVIDING MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR SERVICES FOR EV AND ALT FUEL VEHICLES 

Again, providing financially economical and operational convenience, Fleet Services has highly trained light -duty and heavy-duty vehicle technicians that fix and maintain green vehicles throughout their service life. This includes purchasing specialist tools and specialist diagnostic software subscriptions. 

SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION

Fleet Services has given multiple presentations to campus customers highlighting sustainability efforts and educating customers on sustainable vehicle options. We have also met with student groups to explain and discuss Fleet carbon neutrality. Fleet Services leadership team attend bi-monthly meetings with other UC Fleet Mangers to discuss and collaborate on sustainable technology, innovation and best practices. 

Data provided for FY 23-24.  

Also of note is the world's first of its kind hydrogen-hybrid research vessel will be joining the fleet at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The ship will feature an innovative hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system that will allow it to operate with no greenhouse gas or other emissions for 75% of its missions – and for all of its time operating in state waters. For longer missions farther offshore, extra power will be provided by clean-running modern diesel generators. The zero-emissions-capable vessel represents a major step toward advancing California's pledge to reduce global climate risk while transitioning to a carbon-neutral economy and making progress towards the University of California’s climate action goals. 

More about the hyrodgen-hybrid research vessel:

https://today.ucsd.edu/story/design-of-worlds-first-hydrogen-hybrid-research-vessel-approved 

Point of contact for credit information:  

Jonny Mason, Assistant Director, Fleet Services