Salt Lake City officials are adding several new electric vehicles to the city’s fleet and replacing some older ones that burn fossil fuels.
In all, the city is adding seven new electric vehicles. That brings the total of clean cars and trucks in the city’s fleet to 224. City officials began upgrading to hybrid power and clean fuel vehicles in 2009. Now, 15 percent of city vehicles meet that standard. Tyler Poulson is the sustainability program manager for Salt Lake City. He says improving air quality and lowering fuels costs are some of the factors that city officials consider when deciding what vehicles to purchase.
“We look at green gas emissions. We looks at local air quality pollutants. And then we look at the total cost to own and operate that vehicle. So we assess the up front costs in addition to what it’s going to cost operate that, whether that’s fuel or maintenance. We look at all of those categories together, we’re seeing a win-win-win in terms of purchasing these cleaner types of vehicles, whether they’re hybrids or now all electric with these seven new vehicles in the fleet,” said Poulson.
The city is also expanding the number of charging stations for electric vehicles. Thanks to a recent grant from the Utah Division of Air Quality, The total number of charging ports will be expanded to 25.