The City of Vancouver will get a little greener and cleaner with the acquisition of 13 new electric vehicles.
Mayor Gregor Robertson was joined Wednesday by Shin Fujioka, CEO of Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, to announce the city is adding 13 new Mitsubishi i-MiEV cars to its existing fleet of electric vehicles.
"By introducing more electric vehicles into our fleet, the city is taking proactive steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in our daily operations," said Mayor Gregor Robertson.
"The 13 new Mitsubishi i-MiEVs will ensure the city lowers its carbon footprint, saving taxpayers money on fuel and maintenance costs, while maintaining efficient service delivery across Vancouver."
The Mitsubishi i-MiEV typically sells for $32,998 each, which would bring the price tag to $428,974. But with a rebate from the B.C. government the cost to the city will be just $370,000.
Eleven of the new i-MiEVs will be for city department use and two for Vancouver Park Board use.
The new fleet of electric cars is in addition to the three i-MiEVs it had already been leasing and one Nissan Leaf. The city also has in its fleet of electric vehicles 23 utility vehicles, two electric scooters, eight ice rink resurfacers and eight electric bikes.
By switching to electric vehicles, the city expects to save $20,800 per year in fuel and maintenance and reduce greenhouse gases by 29,000 kilograms per year.
The city has six electric vehicle charging stations and plans to add 67 more throughout the city. It is part of an electrification project being funding by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Ottawa, the provincial government, BC Hydro and City of Vancouver. Vancouver's share of the project is $70,000.
