Arapahoe County touted the purchase of its first-ever electric vehicle — a Ford E-Transit 350 Cargo Van.

The county purchased the vehicle using money from a Colorado Energy Office grant, a news release said. County officials projected that the new electric vehicle would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also yield operational savings.

It’s not immediately clear how much the van’s price was. Electric vehicles are typically priced thousands of dollars more than gas-fired cars, though tax credits can bring that purchase price down. The higher upfront price tag usually means it takes several years before benefits from buying an electric car accrue.   

The county’s weatherization team will use the new electric vehicle. The unit helps get energy-efficient appliances into low-income households throughout Arapahoe and Adams county. Officials said the program’s goal is to help people save energy and money.

“I find it rather fitting that the first electric vehicle, which is designed to save our precious resources, will be used by a team that is committed to helping our residents do the same thing,” Arapahoe County Community Resources Director Kathy Smith said in the release.

The county’s fleet team will track statistics for the new van as it’s used to see how efficient and dependable it is, as well as determine how frequently it needs maintenance. 

The purchase is the first step in a plan to bring on seven electric vehicles. The county said it would evaluate their effectiveness.

Citing an analysis from Sawatch Labs, an electrification firm, county officials projected that the new electric vehicle will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% compared to a traditional van and save the county between $15,000 and $18,00 in operational costs throughout its lifetime. 

Sawatch Labs analyzed a limited set of data. The firm gathered 90 days of data for seven county vehicles and compared how an electric vehicle would perform driving the same routes as the current fleet. 

A U.S. Department of Energy study in 2021 said that an electric car generally costs less than a gas-powered vehicle, factoring in the price, fuel costs, repairs, tax breaks and other factors — after 15 years. EVs typically cost roughly $10,000 upfront.      

It will require an average daily cost of $2.02 to charge the vehicle, and use an average of 18.4 kilowatthours. This data assumes the van is driven 36 miles per day and charged with a power source that doesn’t use wind or solar energy.

“I have long been a champion of electric vehicles as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Bill Holen, a county commissioner, said. “When we considered our own fleet, we wanted to make sure that our decision to electrify was based on concrete data.”

The evaluation was done using a rebate from Xcel’s Fleet Electrification Advisory Program, funds for which are approved by the state under its Transportation Electrification Program.