Electrification Coalition Announced as Technical Partner in New Collaborative to Rapidly Electrify Municipal Fleets, Representing 409 Cities in 47 States
WASHINGTON, DC— Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, co-founder of Climate Mayors, today announced ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit that 19 founding cities and two counties have launched the Climate Mayors Electric Vehicle (EV) Purchasing Collaborative. The launch of www.driveEVfleet.org establishes a turn-key, one-stop online procurement portal providing municipalities across the country equal access to competitively bid electric vehicles and accompanying charging infrastructure. The platform was developed in partnership with the Electrification Coalition, a nonprofit working to accelerate the mass adoption of EVs to reduce U.S. oil dependence.
To mark the start of the Collaborative, 19 founding Climate Mayors’ cities and two counties publicly committed to the purchase of 376 EVs, representing more than $11 million in EV investment. These cities are the first to step forward and commit to purchasing EVs within the first year. The program’s larger goal is to continue to engage cities nationwide to accelerate the transition of city fleets to EVs.
“Today’s announcement by Mayor Garcetti and the Climate Mayors will highlight the incredible market demand that exists from cities across the U.S. as they plan for an electric transportation future. By providing those cites with the right tools to make EV purchases and acquire charging infrastructure it will be more efficient and affordable for cities nationwide to make this shift, a critical step towards reducing our oil dependency and meeting the goals of the America’s Pledge on climate change. The EC believes the development of this Collaborative will be a catalyst to accelerate the transition of city fleets to EVs, reducing emissions, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving taxpayer money,” said Ben Prochazka, Vice President of the Electrification Coalition.
The EC will act as the technical expert to support cities in their fleet transition planning—enabling a more efficient and rapid conversion of city fleets and charging infrastructure. Sourcewell, experts in competitively-solicited EV contracts, will also provide cities with resources to effectively electrify city vehicle fleets.
“The clean transportation revolution is no longer a distant vision for the far-off future — it’s a reality staring us in the face, and it’s happening here in Los Angeles and cities across the globe,” said Mayor Garcetti. “Through this innovative platform, Climate Mayors are sending a powerful message to the global car market: if you build electric vehicles, we will buy them.”
The EC and Climate Mayors are working in coordination with the America’s Pledge initiative, a joint effort between Michael R. Bloomberg and Governor Jerry Brown to bring the private and public sectors together to ensure the U.S. delivers on the country’s ambitious goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. “Fulfilling America’s Pledge” the second bottom-up U.S. climate report will be formally released at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco on September 12th.
The founding 19 cities and two counties of the Collaborative announced today include:
| Aspen, CO Austin, TX Burlington, VT Chula Vista, CA Cleveland, OH Cuyahoga County, OH Fayetteville, NC |
Houston, TX Jersey City, NJ Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles County, CA Long Beach, CA Orlando, Florida Phoenix, AZ |
Pittsburgh, PA Portland, OR Santa Monica, CA San Diego, CA Yonkers, NY Rochester, NY Washington, DC |
For more information on the Collaborative and to explore the online platform, visit www.DriveEVFleet.org.
About the Electrification Coalition: The Electrification Coalition is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that reduce America’s dependence on oil by facilitating the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale. The members of the Electrification Coalition are leaders of companies representing the entire value chain of an electrified transportation system.
For more information, visit www.electrificationcoalition.org.
About Climate Mayors: Climate Mayors, founded in 2014 by Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, Houston Mayor, and Philadelphia Mayor, is a bipartisan, peer-to-peer network of 409 U.S. Mayors representing 70 million Americans from 47 states committed to adopting, honoring, and upholding the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Climate Mayors are working together to demonstrate leadership on climate change through meaningful actions in their communities, and to express and build political will for effective federal and global policy. Last year, Mayor Garcetti led the release of an EV RFI with 30 cities to demonstrate demand for over 114,000 electric vehicles, trucks, and equipment.
For more information, visit www.climatemayors.org