http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/autos/san-francisco-partnership-makes-big-electric-car-purchase/2187671 San Francisco partnership makes big electric car purchase Associated Press July 8, 2014
SAN FRANCISCO — A group of San Francisco bay area cities, counties and water agencies has joined forces for what is being billed as one of the largest single government purchases of all-electric vehicles in the country. The six cities, two counties and two water agencies have gone in together to buy 90 electric vehicles with the help of a $2.8 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional transportation agency, officials with the Bay Area Climate Collaborative said Tuesday. The vehicles will save more than $500,000 in fuel costs and about 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over five years, BACC director Rafael Reyes said. The public-private partnership was started by three San Francisco bay area mayors and developed the proposal for funding that was submitted to the MTC. "The bay area is clearly in a leadership role here," Reyes said. The vehicles include the Ford Focus and the Nissan Leaf. The total cost was $5 million. The 10 governments and agencies are San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Santa Rosa, Fremont, Concord, the Sonoma County Water Agency, Marin Municipal Water District, and Alameda and Sonoma counties. San Jose and three other cities bought 50 all-electric vehicles last year, Reyes said. The all-electric vehicles are a small part of the cities, counties and water agencies' overall fleets. But Reyes said the purchases shows what can be done. "We're just scratching the surface," he said. [© tampabay.com] ... http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/20140715/NEWS/140719958/calif-bay-area-governments-roll-out-evs Calif. Bay Area governments roll out EVs July 15, 2014 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20140708/articles/140709649 Sonoma County's electric-car infusion (w/video) By KEVIN McCALLUM July 8, 2014 [image http://pix.pressdemocrat.com/20140708/ARTICLES/140709649/story.jpg Dale Roberts, Sonoma County Water Agency principal engineer, with one of the agency's five new electric vehicles, in Santa Rosa on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. (Christopher Chung / PD) video flash ] Sonoma County is playing a major role in what is being billed as the single largest government purchase of the electric vehicles in the nation. More than a third of the 90 vehicles being purchased by a collective of 10 Bay Area government agencies are headed to Sonoma County in a bid to reduce fuel costs and demonstrate environmental leadership. A total of 31 new all-electric Ford Focus sedans will soon be humming down Sonoma County roads and in some cases recharging their lithium-ion batteries with solar panels, thanks in part to a federal grant. “It looks pretty good to have all those Focuses lined up at our charging stations,” said Cordell Stillman, deputy chief engineer at the Sonoma County Water Agency. The Water Agency took delivery of its five vehicles last week. Santa Rosa is getting four and Sonoma County is set to receive 22. The purchases were made possible by a $2.8 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional transportation agency. 8 On Your Side: Should you consider an electric car? 8 On Your Side consumer reporter Brian Roche took a ride in an electric car to learn more about the alternative to gas-powered cars. In his report, he gets answers about... The vehicles will save more than $500,000 in fuel costs and about 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over five years, Bay Area Climate Collaborative Executive Director Rafael Reyes said Tuesday. The collaborative — a public-private initiative of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group that was started by three Bay Area mayors — developed the proposal for funding that was submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. “The Bay Area is clearly in a leadership role here,” Reyes said. The agencies paid for the value of a standard Ford Focus, while the grant funds paid the extra cost of the all-electric version of the 2014 sedan, explained Jon Merian, the superintendent of Santa Rosa's fleet of vehicles. For example, Santa Rosa is paying $23,740, which is the cost of a gasoline-powered Focus, while a federal grant is kicking in an additional $10,393 per vehicle to meet the total cost of $34,133 per all-electric model, according to a city staff report. All 31 Focuses were sold as part of a competitive bidding process by Hansel Ford. They will replace gasoline-powered vehicles that were nearing the end of their life cycles. Santa Rosa has owned electric vehicles in the past, but previous models were leased and turned back to the dealer at the end of those contracts, Merian said. The new Focuses will be the only road-worthy all-electric vehicles in the city's fleet, aside from two non-functioning electric pickups and some golf-cart like vehicles for transportation around specific facilities, he said. “This will help us with our climate protection goals,” Merian said. The new Focuses make practical and financial sense because their range is a significant improvement over previous all-electric models, Merian said. According to Ford, the Focuses can travel an average of 76 miles on a single charge. The company claims the cars get the equivalent of 110 mpg in city driving conditions. They take four hours to recharge on a 220-volt plug, according to Ford. Because of the range limitation, the cars probably won't be used for longer trips to cities like San Francisco or Sacramento, Stillman said. For those drives, the water agency's fleet of gas-electric hybrids will be more practical. The Focuses will be perfect for trips around Sonoma County, such as between the agency's Aviation Boulevard headquarters and Sonoma Valley treatment plant or educational center on the Russian River in Forestville, Stillman said. The grant funds also include money for the installation of five new electric charging stations. Presently the agency only has charging stations at its administrative headquarters, where a large solar array allows the vehicles to at times be powered solely by the sun, Stillman said. The other seven entities participating in the grant are San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Fremont, Concord, the Marin Municipal Water District and Alameda County. [© 2014 The Press Democrat] For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date http://www.blackmorevale.co.uk/Electric-Car-promote-credible-alternative/story-21461061-detail/story.html Leaf&eNV200 @Electric Roadshow 7/25 haynesmotormuseum.com Somerset, UK http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/how-make-7k-month-your-high-school-internship Tesla interns earn $3k/mo ... some interns are still in high school ... http://guardianlv.com/2014/07/what-is-it-like-to-work-at-tesla-motors/ What Is It Like to Work at Tesla Motors? http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/07/08/how-3-states-are-moving-forward-microgrids 3 states are moving forward with microgrids to support EV charging http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/bmw-guides-i3-buyers-to-solar-power/article19497267/ BMW gives i3 buyers home solar panel installation discount ... http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bmw-canada-electric-car-comes-with-solar-panel-discount-1.2700033 ... http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/5364/sad-solar-cell-sales-samsung-sdi-may-give-solar-energy-business-after-just-3-years Samsung SDI May Give Up Solar Energy Business after Just 3 Years http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/07/how-to-charge-your-electric-car-in-public/index.htm How to charge your EV w/ the dizzying array of EVSE & payment systems + EVLN: Now you can call it Tesla Model 3, but you doesn't hasta call it E! {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-SF-Bay-Area-Cities-buy-5M-worth-of-Leaf-Focus-EVs-tp4670376.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
