ATHABASCA – The old adage “you can’t please everybody,” reared its head in the Town of Athabasca June 14 — an announcement debuting the municipalities newest fleet vehicle was met with digital derision and denigration.
“I did not expect the negative feedback that we got, that’s for sure,” said town CAO Rachel Ramey, whose office purchased the vehicle for the Parks Department.
“Through our budget presentations, there been lots of requests for green initiatives, and cost wise this made the most sense for us.”
The Facebook announcement had 32 comments before the town limited people’s ability to comment, and has since garnered 868 reactions, three-quarters of them negative.
“I’m not on board with that purchase, what a waste of taxpayer dollars,” wrote one resident on Facebook.
“Can’t wait for winter to see how that battery and heater perform! Don’t stretch the cord across the sidewalk when you charge that bad boy,” wrote another resident.
Ramey said the decision came after the town was due to purchase another fleet truck, and she stressed that they were due for a new vehicle whether it was the Ford Lightning or a more traditional gas-powered vehicle.
“With the municipal rebates that we get, plus a federal rebate, it really wasn’t a whole lot more than the traditional gas vehicle,” said Ramey. “From our understanding, we will have significant cost savings from the maintenance that is required on a traditional gas vehicle.”
In total, the town paid $67,085 for the 2024 Ford F-150 Lighting — the base model starts at $62,890, although the town didn’t say which model they had purchased. A base model gas F-150 costs $51,200.
The Parks team will use the vehicle for transport during their daily duties, which include mowing the grass, watering planters around town, and maintaining recreation areas for residents. Because of this, Ramey isn’t expecting any issues with range or battery life which are common complaints for EV drivers in the north.
“We decided to incorporate the Lightning into our fleet, just the one truck, to see where it gets us. If all the savings are true, then we know for potential future purchases,” said Ramey. “We were buying a vehicle this year, so we opted to go for electric over gas expecting to see some savings. Without introducing one into the fleet, we won’t know for the future, right?”
Ramey said the town didn’t hold any consultation on the topic — they never have in the past for fleet purchases and hadn’t seen any reason to this year — but she referred back to comments they had received in budget open houses. Once the decision was made to go with an electric truck, Ramey said they did speak to locals who own them to see how they ran.
“The plan is to use it during the day, so through our extensive research, it should suit our needs just fine,” said Ramey.
