Tarrant County approves purchase of electric vehicles as part of pilot program
TARRANT COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - Tarrant County leaders approved bids to purchase up to a half dozen electric vehicles as part of a pilot program to explore changing its vehicle fleet.
The Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Chevy Bolt EV and EUV are all on the potential purchase list.
It's not clear yet exactly how the vehicles would be used, or where they would charge. Those details are expected to be hammered out during a wait of six months to a year before the vehicles are purchased and delivered.
The approval comes eight weeks after county commissioners agreed to explore "electrification benefits" for its fleet. The focus is on having a role in reducing emissions, improving health outcomes and potentially realizing long term savings on vehicle maintenance.
Commissioners Devan Allen and Roy Charles Brooks have been serving on the North Texas Electric Transportation Compact this year. The group has a goal of bringing governments and large corporations together to work on ways to convert vehicle fleets.
"And then also work to educate the broader community about the benefits of electricfication," Allen said. "You've got to start somewhere. We've got to see what works, what's going to work."
A task force working on the plans for Tarrant County's pilot program immediately identified pickup trucks as a likely entry point, but low availability required them to expand out to other models of vehicles to consider. Out of 13 vehicles the county considered and requested bids for, it only received bids for four of them.
General funds will be used to buy the vehicles with the bid for the Lightning coming in at just under $60,000. The Chevy Bolt EV was the lowest cost model with a bid received of $32,550.
