Mayor Spano and Climate Mayors Partner in Launch of Electric Vehicle Purchasing Collaborative

Partnership Will Help Rapidly Electrify Municipal Fleets, Reduce Emissions and Save Money

Yonkers, NY – September 13, 2018 – Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and member of Climate Mayors today announced a partnership with 19 other founding US cities in launching the Climate Mayors EV Purchasing Collaborative —a turnkey, one-stop online portal providing municipalities across the country equal access to competitively bid electric vehicles and accompanying charging infrastructure.

To mark the start of the Collaborative, the 20 founding cities and two counties have publicly committed to the purchase of 391 EVs — a figure that is expected to grow as the program continues to engage cities across the country.

“The City of Yonkers is proud to be part of a coalition of cities across America committed to vehicle electrification and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mayor Spano. “The Climate Mayors EV Purchasing Collaborative will help accelerate the conversion of municipal vehicle fleets from gas to electric and demonstrates how cities can work together in taking meaningful action on climate change.”  

Transportation is the largest and fastest-growing source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The new portal is an unprecedented cooperation of cities across the country to leverage their collective buying power and accelerate the conversion of municipal fleets to electric—sending a powerful signal to the global car market and helping America maintain its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.

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. It will centralize expert resources and information — giving cities a roadmap for a more efficient and rapid conversion of city fleets and charging infrastructure. 

In addition to the City of Yonkers, Founding Cities include Aspen, Austin, Berkeley, Burlington, Chula Vista, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Fayetteville, Houston, Jersey City, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Orlando, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Rochester, San Diego, Santa Monica and Washington, DC

The EC and Climate Mayors are also working in coordination with the America’s Pledge initiative, an effort to bring the private and public sectors together to ensure the U.S. delivers on the country’s ambitious goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. “Fulfilling America’s Pledge,” the second bottom-up U.S. climate report, is being formally released at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco today.

For more information on the Collaborative, visit www.DriveEVfleets.org.

About Climate Mayors: Climate Mayors, founded in 2014 by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, is a bipartisan, peer-to-peer network of 409 U.S. Mayors representing 70 million Americans from 47 states committed to adopting, honoring, and upholding the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Climate Mayors are working together to demonstrate leadership on climate change through meaningful actions in their communities, and to express and build political will for effective federal and global policy. For more information, visit www.ClimateMayors.org.

About the Electrification Coalition: The Electrification Coalition (EC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that reduce America’s dependence on oil by facilitating the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale. The members of the Electrification Coalition are leaders of companies representing the entire value chain of an electrified transportation system.  For more information, visit www.ElectrificationCoalition.org.