Jersey City and Hoboken have joined 125 other cities from 38 states in the Climate Mayors Electric Vehicle Purchasing Collaborative, which is committing to purchase more than 2,100 total electric vehicles (EVs) by the end of 2020. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also joined the pledge under the Collaborative.
Launched in September 2018, the collaborative is a partnership between Climate Mayors, the Electrification Coalition and Sourcewell, a national transit fleet transition program.
The collaborative has announced plans to place a competitive bid on electric school buses by the end of this year, which will enable all electric school bus manufacturers to offer any public school system in the country access to equal, competitive prices, the partners say. Sourcewell will be releasing a national solicitation for electric school buses by the end of the year.
The platform was developed in partnership with the Electrification Coalition, (EC), a nonprofit working to accelerate the mass adoption of EVs to reduce U.S. oil dependence. The program’s larger goal is to continue to engage cities nationwide to accelerate the transition of city fleets to EVs.
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, comprised of experts in competitively-solicited EV contracts, will also provide cities with resources to effectively electrify city vehicle fleets.
“By providing those cities 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.