Fleet Vehicles

A Green Community requirement is the adoption of a Fuel Efficiency Vehicle Policy for all city and school fleet vehicles, which Melrose put in place in 2011. Overall vehicle fleet fuel use has decreased by over 25% in Melrose since FY2009. The Green Community guidelines state that all city and school departments/divisions shall purchase only fuel-efficient vehicles for municipal use whenever such vehicles are commercially available and practicable. 

Updates to the Fleet in 2023

On July 1, 2022 Melrose adopted a new Electric Vehicle First Fleet Policy which prioritizes electric vehicles when the City purchases or leases motor vehicles for municipal operations. And all light-duty passenger vehicles purchased or leased for City use are required to be battery electric vehicles.

In support of fleet fuel efficiency Melrose has added four battery electric vehicles to its fleet for the Engineering, Fire, and Police Departments with orders for two more in process for FY23. The DPW water meter van is upfitted with an XL Fleet hybrid kit that reduces fuel use by 25% which is key for a vehicle that travels across the city taking meter readings all day. Melrose has also aggressively retired gas guzzlers in the police and DPW fleets and continues to look for opportunities to add more plug-in electric or hybrid vehicles to the fleet as funding allows.