On Nov. 7, Ground Truth Energy and three Kenyon students — Sebi Lee ’25, Hank Thomas ’24 and Harshal Rukhaiyar ’24 — hosted a presentation on Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure and considerations for an all-electric fleet at Kenyon. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session, where audience members discussed the statistics offered, probed for details and debated with presenters.
The presentation began with two representatives from Ground Truth Energy, a firm that designs fleet electrification projects for organizations. The presenters, Ido Salama and Chris Wolfington, argued both the environmental and economic reasons for fleet electrification. Wolfington highlighted the average 100 miles-per-gallon of gasoline-equivalent used by EVs compared to about 30 miles-per-gallon for gas vehicles. This is due to the roughly 18 moving parts in the drivetrain of an EV against a combustion engine with over 2000.
Wolfington admitted that there are environmental drawbacks to EVs, including the amount of fuel required to produce them and the CO2 produced as a byproduct of manufacturing lithium batteries. However, he explained that under standard distributions of renewable and nonrenewable energy used to fuel an EV, a Tesla Model 3 can cancel out any production emissions after 20,000 miles. Wolfington further described how federal and state incentives, combined with low fuel costs, make EVs a cost-effective option in the long run.
“We are at a very interesting point in time where the choice is ours, the technology is there, there are no limiting factors,” Salama said. “We have all the pieces in place to live in a world that’s cleaner, that’s more sustainable and that actually engages the community.”
Lee, Thomas and Rukhaiyar presented after Salama and Wolfington. Their presentation focused on interpreting user data from Kenyon’s EV charging stations. Their research found a significant upward trend in charger use since 2020. They also found that most people begin their charging in the morning and will end by midafternoon. They extrapolated that this left large swathes of time at night for a fleet of college vehicles to charge. The students also collected survey data on environmental priorities: Almost 70% of students want to see a switch to an electric fleet at Kenyon within the next two years.
A Q&A followed the section addressing charging data and student surveys. The audience consisted of about 14 people, with about three student-aged people in attendance. One of the first questions came from a student, who rejected the initial premise that Kenyon needs to invest in motor vehicles at all. They believed that the lithium mining and habitat destruction as a result of personal vehicle production could not be justified by any means. Other audience members asked about any potential plans for additional charging stations and ports, and some shared their own reasons for going electric or not going electric.
According to Director of Green Initiatives David Heithaus, the College’s size — about one square mile — makes it a good candidate for a fully electric fleet. “I think the size of our campus is actually on the ‘for’ side of the case for more EVs,” Heithaus wrote in an email to the Collegian. “Lower mileage makes vehicles like vans and trucks with shorter ranges more practical. The issue is also less one of ‘mileage’ than run time. There is a lot of idling on campus.” Heithaus contends that the primary concern should simply be to reduce the College’s Carbon footprint: “Emissions wise, we need to reduce or eliminate everything in our power and any kind of combustion is both in our power and a priority to eliminate due to its position in the emissions profile.”
Heithaus further emphasized that while Kenyon’s charging infrastructure cannot currently support a completely electric fleet, it still meets the current need on campus. “Through the process of this study, I have come to realize that Kenyon’s charging infrastructure is actually not lagging relative to similar institutions,” he wrote. “Is it where it needs to be to support an electric-vehicle renaissance? No. But it has been observed to meet basic needs with virtually no structuring of charging processes.” The data the students gathered did reflect this, looking at the average day’s charging use by hour.
When asked about the attendance, Although Heithaus believes EVs are a worthwhile endeavor for the College to pursue, he was dismayed by the turnout of the event. “Dreadful,” he wrote. “Not without years of precedent though. Attendance at events like this has always been disappointing.” Looking forward, Heithaus hopes that discussions focused on advocacy might be more engaging for college students. “In the future, efforts might be better spent on pushing emissions reduction policies than having experts preach to the already-informed choir,” he said.