One of the most iconic electric car, the Mitsubishi i MiEV joins the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC). 50 electric i MiEVs will help municipalities cut down on fuel budgets.
Mitsubishi has every reason to celebrate lately. The Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC), City of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, and other leaders have 50 news i MiEVs. Mitsubishi’s all-electric car joined four municipal agencies in the California Bay Area – City of San Jose, Town of Los Gatos, City of Campbell and City of Mill Valley. This is the single largest municipal fleet deployment of light-duty all-electric vehicles (EV) in the nation to date.
Bay Area Climate Collaborative
The Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC) is a public and private initiative of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and established by the Mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. The group aims to accelerate the clean energy economy with private partners, such as ChargePoint, Pacific Gas & Electric, Environmental Defense Fund, Bank of America, and local governments representing over 70 percent of the Bay Area population. More so, BACC facilitates electric vehicle progression with the EV Strategic Council, the executive forum driving the region’s vision to be the “EV Capitol of the US”. It also includes the Local Government EV Fleet National Demonstration Project and facilitation of negotiated EV leases for fleets, for the largest collective municipal all-battery EV fleet deployment in the US, as well as Ready, Set, Charge, California! A Guide to EV-Ready Communities delivering key guidance on EV preparedness.
According to Yoichi Yokozawa, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc.: “The California Bay Area is known worldwide for fostering innovation and advanced technology, so it is fitting that the cities of San Jose, Los Gatos, Campbell and Mill Valley are deploying such a large fleet of highly energy-efficient Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric vehicles. These forward-thinking municipalities and the Bay Area Climate Collaborative will reap many benefits from having the Mitsubishi i-MiEV in their fleets, such as tremendous reliability, an excellent safety record, greatly reduced maintenance and operation costs and, of course, zero tailpipe emissions.”
How To Use A Mitsubishi i MiEV
The smart municipalities are using their Mitsubishi i-MiEVs in many ways. Most of them are used as dedicated city staff commuting vehicles, the rest is used for transportation of VIPs, for building inspection travel, and within the larger fleet pool for general staff usage. Most of us know how cities are fighting tremendous budget deficits and trying to tame ever-increasing gasoline prices. In this instance, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV is a perfect match with its EPA-rated 112 MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent) and its combined/126 MPGe city/99 MPGe highway. With its EPA estimated “real world” driving range of 62 miles (45% highway/55% city driving mix) and 98 miles (EPA LA4 range – mostly stop & go/city driving), the i MiEVs will cut down on cities fuel budgets. On another note, it is very easy to achieve more than the EPA 62 miles.
City of San Jose Goes Shoots for 100% Electric
The City of San Jose totaled 38 i MiEVs alone. It aims for 100 percent alternative fuel vehicles for its fleet by 2022 as a part of its Green Vision. This project helps smaller municipalities understand how electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are an essential and integral part of their sustainability and budget targets.
In fact, Rafael Reyes, Executive Director of the Bay Area Climate Collaborative had the following to say: “Combined, these 50 vehicles could save the participating municipalities over $110,000 in fuel costs and reduce CO2 emission by nearly 400,000 lbs. over three years. For fleets, EVs bring improved total-cost-of ownership and insulation from gas price hikes. These municipalities are true clean vehicle pioneers, actively helping to demonstrate the benefits of EVs in fleets and providing a model for other fleets to follow.”
It’s always good news to see municipalities acting on a comprehensive sustainability goal. The use of electric vehicles and now plug-in hybrids (PHEV) are essential in order to meet shrinking city budgets. This is also great news for one of the electric vehicle leader that brought us early the Mitsubishi i MiEV, one of the most affordable electric vehicles to-date.
