Mayor Mary Casillas Salas, member of the Climate Mayors, announced with 19 other founding cities the launch of 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 18 founding Climate Mayors cities and two counties have publicly committed to the purchase of 373 EVs, representing over $11 million in EV investment.

Chula Vista has long been an environmental champion and we are proud to be one of the founding cities for the launch of the Electric Vehicle Purchasing Collaborative,” said Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas. “As an active partner of Climate Mayors, we are putting the concept of ‘thinking globally and acting locally’ into action.  Our goal to double the city’s low and zero-emission vehicle fleet sends a strong signal about our commitment to promoting cleaner air and reducing greenhouse emissions to support the goals of our Climate Action Plan.  By working together, we will show how cities can shape solutions and demonstrate the power of collective 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, 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. Sourcewell, experts in competitively solicited EV contracts, will also provide cities with resources to effectively electrify their vehicle fleets.

The EC and Climate Mayors are 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 will be formally released at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco on September 12.

Current Founding Cities are: Aspen, Austin, Burlington, Chula Vista, Cuyahoga County, Fayetteville, Houston, Jersey City, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Orlando, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Rochester, San Diego, Santa Monica, Washington, DC, and Yonkers.

For more information on the Collaborative, visit www.DriveEVFleets.org. To learn more about Climate Mayors, visit www.climate-mayors.org.You can also engage with Climate Mayors on Facebook, Twitter and Medium.