Transparency Over Everything: Managing 11,000 Vehicles and High-Stakes EV Pivots

Scott Stephens is the Operational Support Manager for Miami-Dade County Fleet, overseeing nearly 11,000 vehicles across approximately 30 county departments. A U.S. Navy veteran with a background in nuclear engineering, he came to fleet through a temp assignment in Dallas in 2009, joined Miami-Dade County 11 years ago, and has since led fleet management system implementations, an EV scale-up from 8 to over 430 vehicles, and a data transformation that is now moving from dashboards toward AI-supported predictive analytics.

Here's a glimpse of what you'll learn:

• [1:15] How a Navy nuclear engineer accidentally built a 15-year fleet career

• [6:03] Why public fleets can't adjust rates mid-year — and what that means when costs spike

• [8:06] The $395 million budget swing Miami-Dade is navigating right now

• [13:22] How the county scaled from 8 EVs to 437 — and what the infrastructure scramble looked like

• [16:54] Why Miami-Dade is shifting to hybrid while infrastructure catches up

• [24:08] What AI dash cams have done for at-fault claims across 434 garbage trucks

• [29:14] The camera exoneration story that converted union skeptics into advocates

• [33:19] Scott's one-word definition of great fleet leadership — and the engagement sessions that back it up

In this episode…

Running nearly 11,000 vehicles across 30 departments — with a $395 million budget swing on the horizon — takes more than a dashboard. Robert Scott Stephens built Miami-Dade County's fleet operation on data, transparency, and a leadership philosophy that requires showing up on the shop floor and acting on what you hear.

In this Roadrageous episode, he covers the EV infrastructure lessons learned scaling from 8 to 437 vehicles, why charger replacement cycles are five years not ten, what AI dash cameras have done for driver safety and claims exposure on the county's garbage truck fleet, and why the one word that defines great public fleet leadership is transparency — all the way from the newest PM technician to the county manager.

Key Takeaways

• Public fleets operate on fixed budgets — data quality and forecasting are existential tools, not operational luxuries.

• EV infrastructure must be sequenced before procurement. Buying 64 EVs with four charging stations creates a scramble that is entirely preventable.

• Charger replacement cycles are five to seven years in practice. Any EV cost model that excludes this is incomplete.

• AI dash cameras produced a measurable drop in at-fault claims within 18 months — and one exoneration converted union opposition into active demand.

Resources Mentioned

• Scott Stephens — Miami-Dade County Fleet | scotts@miamidade.gov

• NAFA Fleet Management Association — nafa.org

• Samsara | Geotab | Uptake | ChargePoint

• SPIDER Driver Training by IMPROVLearning

• Chad Lindholm on LinkedIn