08/21/2026
Five new vehicles. Four Town departments. One big question: Can EVs work for a small, rural community like Rutherfordton?
We’re going to find out.
Through North Carolina Department of Transportation Carbon Reduction Program and our partnership with the Foothills RPO and Foothills Regional Commission, five new electric vehicles are now at work across Rutherfordton in Police, Fire, Public Works, and PARC. Our PARC Silverado is also shared with Ruff’ton Roots Community Garden.
And we mean at work.
Our Police Blazer EV PPVs are serving in actual patrol assignments and have already performed well during emergency and higher-speed operations. Our Silverado EVs are hauling, towing, traveling off pavement, and even providing power for tools and community events.
The early numbers have surprised us, too.
Lt. Holland’s Police Blazer has already logged about 560 miles and is seeing approximately 300 miles of range on a full charge. Lindy Abrams’ PARC Silverado has already traveled 874 miles, and during a typical day of local trips and rounds around Rutherfordton, it starts at 100% and rarely drops below 90%.
But this pilot is about more than new technology.
Local governments are continually being asked to do more with less. Fuel, maintenance, and vehicle replacement are significant costs, and we have a responsibility to keep looking for ways to stretch taxpayer dollars while maintaining the level of service our community expects.
Rutherfordton already has two hybrid SUVs successfully serving in our Police fleet. Now we’re taking the next step and asking where fully electric vehicles might fit.
The financial opportunity gave us a great place to start. We had already budgeted local dollars for normal vehicle replacements. With 80% federal participation through the Carbon Reduction Program, we were able to leverage approximately the local cost of replacing one municipal vehicle into this five-vehicle pilot.
Now comes the important part: collecting the data.
Over the next year, we’ll track range, charging, energy costs, maintenance, repairs, towing, emergency use, and downtime. We’ll check back with our drivers at six months and again at one year.
We’re not trying to prove that every Town vehicle should be electric. We want to learn where EVs work, where hybrids make sense, where a conventional vehicle is still the right tool, and what each choice really costs our taxpayers.
And we’re going to share what we learn.
Read the full story and our Initial Deployment Report, “Can Electric Vehicles Work in Rural Local Government?”, here: https://www.rutherfordton.net/rutherfordton-puts-five-electric-vehicles-to-work-in-rural-fleet-pilo/
Thanks to NCDOT, the RPO, and Foothills Regional Commission for helping us turn an idea into a real-world rural fleet pilot.
