Whitmer EV directive is years behind Whitmer environmental plan

While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan says that Michigan needs to build the charging resources for 2 million electric vehicles by 2030, the transition of the state’s vehicle fleet to all-electric will take a decade longer.

With Executive Directive 2023-5, Whitmer has ordered that the state of Michigan convert its light-duty fleet to EVs by 2033, and its entire fleet, including medium and heavy-duty vehicles, by 2040. According to the 2022 State of Michigan Fleet Plan, the state fleet consisted of 8,758 on-road vehicles.

It will take 17 years to transition a fleet under 9,000 vehicles to all-electric.

In the directive, Whitmer admits the mandated switch to EVs is meant to boost demand.

“This will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, boost demand for Michigan automakers’ ZEV [zero emission vehicle] production, and reduce the overall costs of the state fleet,” the directive reads.

Read it for yourself: Executive Directive 2023-5 

Not every vehicle would have to be electric; exceptions will be allowed. But “exceptions shall be disfavored” and made on a case-by-case basis.

As one paragraph reads, the state will:

Establish vehicle purchase exception criteria, and an exception review and approval process, by which agencies may seek exceptions for specific state fleet vehicles. Exceptions shall be disfavored and, when requesting an exception, the requesting agency shall consider alternate decarbonization strategies for reducing fleet emissions, including, but not limited to, biofuels and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles;

Every department of the state will be required to create a zero emissions plan within six months, outlining fleet replacement schedules.