Mayor Greg Ballard is aiming to have an all-electric city fleet in Indianapolis by 2016.
The 425 plug-in vehicles have been dubbed the “Freedom Fleet” and are expected to reduce the fuel cost by $1,860 annually per vehicle, leading to a savings of 2.2 million gallons of gas over the next 10 years. Currently, the city uses 21 electric vehicles including the Nissan Leaf, Ford Fusion Energi, and Chevrolet Volt. By the end of 2014, that number will jump to 100 and another 325 electric vehicles will be added to the fleet in 2015.
Indianapolis has a seven-year, $32 million contract to lease the vehicles from Vision Fleet Capital, a California-based company paying for the maintenance, gas, electricity, and the cars themselves. The new contract means a total savings of $8.7 million for the city compared to what is currently spent maintaining a gasoline fleet.
Ballard called the move “a landmark step in revitalizing our aging fleet and replacing expensive internal combustion engine vehicles with cutting-edge EV technology, all while reducing our dependence on oil and saving Indianapolis taxpayers thousands in fuel costs each year.”