The City of South San Francisco is Going Green

April 20th, 2023 – South San Francisco, CA – Press Release 

The City of South San Francisco is Going Green by Adding Two All-Electric

Street Sweepers to its Fleet

These two EV sweepers will result in the reduction of 100 metric tons in greenhouse gas emissions per year

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 20, 2023 – Street sweepers play a critical role in keeping our streets clean and safe. However, on top of brushing dust particles into the air, they also produce harmful emissions. As part of the City’s goal of transitioning its fleet to alternative-fueled vehicles, the City of South San Francisco’s Public Works Department recently purchased two all-electric (EV) street sweepers.

“It’s imperative that we move in this direction and do everything we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said South San Francisco Mayor Flor Nicolas. “Not only does it improve air quality, but reducing global greenhouse gas emissions can help slow climate change, which could prevent millions of premature deaths due to air pollution – so we must start paying serious attention to this now.”

The 100 percent plug-in electric high-speed heavy-duty EV mechanical street sweepers offer several advantages to the previous diesel models. In addition to the 50.9 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions reduction per sweeper, the sweepers are expected to save approximately $42,000 annually in maintenance and fuel costs. Even better is that the EV sweepers are substantially quieter than the previous diesels. The 16-decibel reduction in noise enables our sweepers to perform with less disturbance to our community. The City’s current maintenance costs are $20,000/year for maintenance and repair of each of the City’s current diesel street sweeper vehicles, with an additional $6,500/year for replacement brushes. With the new EV sweepers, the City is expected to save $6,875 in reduced maintenance costs each year.

“The reduction in noise also has health benefits for our drivers who have reported that they no longer need the hearing protection required previously,” said South San Francisco Public Works Director Eunejune Kim.

The new EV sweepers, along with other EV vehicles the City owns will be on display at the South San Francisco Corporation Yard during our upcoming Clean Up Day, which also happens to be Earth Day on April 22, 2023.

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About the City of South San Francisco
The City of South San Francisco proudly remains The Industrial City, a reflection of its steel mill and shipbuilding past, redefined to reflect the innovative, entrepreneurial, and industrious spirit which has made South San Francisco the Biotech Capital of the World, with over 250 active biotech companies and growing. A vibrant community of 67,587 residents, South San Francisco enjoys a high quality of life with an extensive public parks system, active library, and learning programming, and a dynamic, engaged community making South San Francisco a great place to live, learn, work, and play.

For more information about the City of South San Francisco, visit www.ssf.net.