A fleet of 27 brand new electric utility vehicles was recently purchased by the US Bureau of Reclamation as a means of providing transportation for federal employees working at Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington state, according to recent reports.
The move to purchase the 27 new EXV2 and EXV4 Patriots — from e-ride Industries of Princeton, Minnesota — was mostly motivated by a desire to provide transportation that was more “environmentally friendly.”
The new electric vehicles were set-up specifically for use around the large (mile-wide) dam — an area covering around 18 square miles.
“They are low-cost, low-maintenance vehicles that help us meet our greenhouse gas emission goals set by the White House,” explained David Walsh, a bureau spokesman. “In addition, they meet a real dire need for vehicles. We’ve grown by about 150 employees within the last three or four years, so there’s been a shortage of vehicles available.”
“There are a lot of short trips we do,” Walsh continued. “To go from one end of the power plant to another is quite a drive, and it’s usually just to pick up this part, deliver that item, or pick up two or three people to go work a job site or perform a task.”
The new vehicles were built with the intention of carrying loads of up to 1000 lbs, and possess enough torque to make it up relatively steep grades without trouble. Worth noting is that the vehicles are recharged directly with electricity generated by the dam.
“We can get 50 miles of usage off of a single charge, so we set up a number of plug-in areas at various buildings,” stated Walsh.
“(We) spend over $100,000 on fossil fuel each year,” stated Matt Tillman, Grand Coulee’s administrative officer. “We’re expecting to be able to cut that consumption by 10–15%.”
The models used range in price between $32,381 and $32,902.
(Thanks to Green Fleet Magazine for this news.)
Their estimate for fuel savings seems a bit low!