Los Angeles Partners With 30 U.S. Cities to Make EVs Cheaper for Fleet Use

author: Vineeth Joel Patel   

Electric vehicles continue to rise in popularity and California is one of the key reasons as to why. California recently come out with legislation that would make 100 percent of its electricity come from carbon-free sources, which would make electric cars even more popular. 

California is also one of the few states in the U.S. that is spending large amounts of money to boost electric vehicle infrastructure. Earlier this June, the state's utilities invested $768 million into expanding California's network of charging stations for electric vehicles. 

Partnering With Cities For More Affordable Prices

The goal with all of these decisions is to have 5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030. In another step to turn that goal into reality, the city of Los Angeles has entered into the fray, by partnering with 30 other cities to make it cheaper for companies to assemble a fleet of electric vehicles. 

According to Wired, the city of Los Angeles has roughly 11,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment that the city is hoping to replace with battery-powered options. These machines include things like company cars, street sweepers, buses, and garbage trucks. Helping companies make the switch to electric-powered machines instead of gas-powered options will help the city combat smog, which is one of the city's major drawbacks. 

One of the major things that's stopping the city from going down the eco-friendly route is budget. As Wired claims, an all-electric bus would be much more expensive than a gas-powered one. A regular bus costs $500,000, while an all-electric option could be as much as $300,000 more. That's where the city wants its new partnership to come into play, by making it cheaper for cities to add electric options to their fleets. 

The idea of partnering with 30 other U.S. cities, as Wired points out, is to be able to work together to get better deals on electric vehicles. According to the outlet, 18 other cities have already committed to purchases, calling themselves "founding cities." All-in-all, if you combine all of the vehicles the 30 cities have, it comes out to a staggering figure of 115,000 machines that will need to be replaced some time down the line. And all of those vehicles are priced at $10 billion, which would give them a lot of power to negotiate. 

Heavy Discounts On Popular EVs

The deals won't be confined to Los Angeles and the 30 other cities, though, as a website will be launched shortly that will give any city in the United States access to the deals. The website, which is called driveEVfleets.org, will help cities, as Wired claims, to get a "pre-negotiated price" on electric cars, buses, trucks, and even charging infrastructure. In order to get cities these prices, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco came together to get a Request for Information document that provided automakers and other providers of vehicles to make their best deals available and give cities the options of choosing what they want. 

"Here's a very clear signal to the market that this is where cities are going," Lauren Faber O'Connor, LA's chief sustainability officer told Wired.  "Imagine what the potential is for that market is for car companies, and other who are getting into the electric vehicle space." 

Cities that are interested in adding a Chevrolet Bolt EV to their fleet can purchase one for $32,702, which is $5,000 less than buying directly from a dealer. Ford's Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid is also discounted, with a price tag that's $2,000 lower than what passengers have to pay. 

Vineeth Joel Patel

Joel Patel has been covering all aspects of the automotive industry for four years as an editor and freelance writer for various websites. When it comes to cars, he enjoys covering the merger between technology and cars. In his spare time, Joel likes to watch baseball, work on his car, and try new foods