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New purchases will cut annual gas usage by up to 1 million gallons; Collaborative also announces plans for new national solicitation for school buses

The City of Madison is proud to be a part of 127 cities and 15 counties, from across 38 states, joining the Climate Mayors Electric Vehicle Purchasing Collaborative (“the Collaborative”).

The City is partnering with the Collaborative to electrify its city fleet. The Collaborative is committed to purchasing more than 2100 electric vehicles (EVs) by the end of 2020.   Since partnering with the Collaborative, City of Madison has committed to purchase at least 30 EV fleet vehicles and three EV buses by the end of 2020 — helping to improve citywide air quality and public health.  This will be the largest electric fleet in Wisconsin.

By transitioning to EVs, cities like Madison are leading by example: helping to cut greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet, saving taxpayer money, improving public health, and reducing our nation’s dependency on oil. With 127 cities committing to the Collaborative by the end of 2020, the EV commitments have the potential to:

  • Cut gas usage by up to 1 million gallons each year;
  • Transition to 25 million electric miles driven each year; and
  • Add more than $75 million in purchasing power to the electric vehicle market[1].

As part of Climate Mayors’ commitment to grow participation and offerings in the Collaborative, its procurement partner, Sourcewell, will be releasing a new national solicitation for electric school buses by the end of the year, enabling all electric school bus manufacturers to participate and become readily available for any public school system to access at competitive prices. The Collaborative will continue to expand in the future, including to transit buses and other vehicle types. With more than 470,000 school buses and 70,000 transit buses operating across the country, transitioning to electric school buses creates a big opportunity to make it easier for school children and across the U.S. to travel on a zero-emission bus.

“The clean transportation revolution is not a distant vision for the far-off future — it’s a reality hitting the streets of Los Angeles and cities around the world,” Climate Mayors’ Founder and Co-Chair Eric Garcetti said. “By expanding this innovative platform with zero-emission school buses and thousands of new commitments for electric vehicles, Climate Mayors are sending a powerful message to the global car market: if you build electric vehicles, we will buy them.”

The City of Madison’s Metro and Fleet comprise of 34 percent of carbon emissions for municipal operations. By electrifying our transportation, we are moving closer to the City’s goal of 100% Renewable Energy and Zero Net Carbon.

“This partnership is a great way for the City of Madison to work toward our sustainability goals,” Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said. “We will cut gas usage, provide a comfortable ride for our bus riders and City employees utilizing our City fleet vehicles. We are delighted to demonstrate that electric vehicles are part of an overall plan to protect our environment, protect our resources and support a healthy city. And assuring that we have the capacity to charge those vehicles through solar power makes this even more of a win-win.”

In agreeing to purchase electric vehicles through the Collaborative, public agencies gain access to competitively solicited EVs and charging infrastructure, as well as innovative leasing options that allow cities to reduce EV costs by accessing state and federal tax credits. The Collaborative also provides support with analysis and best practices for fleet electrification to cities as they consider switching to electric.

“Cities across the country are demonstrating critical leadership by committing to transition their fleets to electrification - reducing our dependence on oil, while also improving our nation’s health, and our economic and national security,” Ben Prochazka, Vice President of the Electrification Coalition, said. “We hope other mayors around the country will see this as a call to action and plug their fleets into the Climate Mayors EV Purchasing Collaborative.”

Launched in September 2018, the Collaborative is a partnership between Climate Mayors, the Electrification Coalition, and Sourcewell. The program works with cities and other public agencies to accelerate the electrification of public fleets. The Collaborative provides technical expertise to purchasers and a program that reduces the costs and barriers to electrifying fleets.

About Climate Mayors

Climate Mayors, founded in 2014, is a diverse network of U.S. city leaders who have committed to fighting climate change. In response to the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the network’s ranks swelled to more than 400 U.S. mayors from across the country who have committed to taking ambitious action to meet each of their cities’ current climate goals, while working together towards achieving our national Paris targets. Climate Mayors is founded and Chaired by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Co-Chaired by Mayors Madeline Rogero (Knoxville), Sylvester Turner (Houston) and Marty Walsh (Boston).

About the Electrification Coalition

The Electrification Coalition (EC) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that facilitate the acceleration of electric vehicle adoption on a mass scale in order to combat the economic, environmental and national security dangers caused by our nation’s dependence on oil. The EC works through several approaches to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles including consumer education, fleet electrification, public-private partnerships, comprehensive EV accelerator communities, policy advocacy, and innovative program development. Since 2008, the EC has been developing leading best practices to help cities, states, and the private sector influence the adoption of EVs by consumers and fleets.

About Sourcewell

Sourcewell is a self-supporting government organization, partnering with education and government agencies throughout North America. They offer a cooperative purchasing program with over 300 awarded vendors on contract. On behalf of their 50,000 members, Sourcewell conducts competitive solicitations, awarding to the most responsive and responsible vendors. The result of this cooperative effort is a high-quality selection of nationally leveraged, competitively solicited contract solutions to help create efficiencies and meet the ever-challenging needs of current and future member agencies.

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