New York City is now set to be home to a “vast” municipal fleet of electric vehicles by the year 2025, going by recent statements made by the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio.
The new plan directly calls for the replacement of significant numbers of municipal gas- and diesel-powered vehicles with electrics. If followed, this could result in the city possessing the biggest electric municipal vehicle fleet in the US.
Roughly half of New York City’s non-emergency fleet would end up as electrics under the plan, reportedly. This would “include around 2,000 city-owned cars used by agencies like the Parks and Recreation Department.”
Green Car Reports provides more:
The fleet would likely be a mix of all-electric cars like the Nissan Leaf, and extended-range or plug-in hybrid models, including the Chevrolet Volt. A large network of charging stations will also be required to support these vehicles.
Including the cost of charging stations, the program will reportedly require an estimated $50 to $80 million over the next decade. Officials hope fuel savings will offset much of the cost of getting the electric-car fleet up and running. The program is expected to cut government-vehicle emissions 50% by 2025.
The plan is simply to replace gas-powered vehicles as they’re otherwise retired, rather than immediately.
Also worth noting, is that the plan doesn’t call for police or fire department vehicles to be replaced — seemingly, for obvious reasons.
If plug-in hybrids vehicles (PHEVs) such as the Chevy Volt end up being used in large numbers, the plan is to rely mostly on electric driving, rather than gas-powered driving, so there would hopefully be mechanisms in place to make sure that happens.