LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a commitment to lease 160 pure battery electric vehicles, a move that will give Los Angeles the largest city-owned pure EV fleet in America.
The program commits city departments to the leasing of pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) to replace aging city vehicles — including those with conventional internal combustion engines. The announcement comes on the eve of the U.S.-China Climate Leaders Summit to be hosted in L.A. on Sept. 15-16.
The Los Angeles Police, Fire, General Services, and Water and Power departments will together lease the 160 BEVS. In addition, LADWP and the General Services Department will lease an additional 128 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Mayor Garcetti last year issued the Sustainable City pLAn, a first-of-its-kind blueprint to make Los Angeles more sustainable and deliver environmental and economic benefits to the city. These leases will deliver on the pLAn’s commitment to ensure that 50 percent of the City’s annual light-duty vehicle purchases are EVs by 2017. This is also a big step toward the pLAn’s longer-term target to have 80 percent of city vehicle fleet purchases be EVs by 2025.
In addition to the 288 new battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, the LAPD is also being loaned a Tesla Model S P85D and a BMW i3. These vehicles will be used for testing and research by LAPD technical experts to determine how this technology can support their future needs. The department has also already purchased 23 electric scooters and 3 electric motorcycles for use by patrol officers.
100 of the BEVs will be dedicated to the LAPD, making it the largest single departmental procurement to date. The BEVs will be used by detectives, investigators, and administrative employees. The LADWP will lease 44 BEVs and 113 of the PHEVs.
The change in vehicle procurement policy will:
– Cut operating costs of the vehicles by an estimated 41% ($0.21 per mile for EVs vs. $0.37 per mile for conventional vehicles)
– Free up City budget dollars currently allocated to finance the purchase vehicles, so City departments can invest in key infrastructure upgrades;
– Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent to planting over 20,000 trees, while lowering harmful smog forming pollutants like NOx and hydrocarbons
This announcement also furthers L.A.’s leadership on fighting climate change, and is an important climate action taken in advance of the U.S.-China Climate Leaders Summit. Mayor Garcetti has also led on climate change nationally as co-founder of the Mayors’ National Climate Action Agenda — which represents 29 mayors working together on key policies and actions. Globally, Mayor Garcetti serves on the C40 steering committee and is a signatory to the Compact of Mayors.
