City Receives Grant for Electric Vehicles

General Services - Feb. 8, 2007
Contact: Sandy Barfoot, 747-7366

With the assistance of a state grant, Winston-Salem will begin operating its first all-electric vehicles later this year.

The state’s Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project has awarded the city $28,800 toward the cost of buying four all-electric vehicles to replace the four gasoline-fueled vehicles used by Parking Enforcement employees. The grant will cover 60 percent of the estimated cost of $48,000 for the four vehicles. The city will pay the rest of the cost, estimated at $19,200.

The electric vehicles will be used downtown to enforce parking regulations and monitor parking meters. The current, three-wheel gas vehicles are 7 to 10 years old and are beginning to require excessive maintenance. The current vehicles average about 2,000 miles a year, but they spend a lot of time idling.

The grant will allow the city to replace all four vehicles at once, rather than stretching out the purchase over several years, said Sandy Barfoot, the city’s general services director. “This grant serves our citizens both by saving our tax dollars, and by eliminating all emissions coming from the vehicles used in our downtown parking patrol,” Barfoot said.

The city will solicit bids from any electric car maker, including Global Electric Motorcars, which makes the eS electric vehicle; and Columbia Parcar Corp, which makes the SMT-2 Summit electric vehicle. More information about their vehicles can be found at www.gemcar.com and www.parcar.com. The city hopes to take delivery of the vehicles in August.

The Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project is sponsored by the N.C. Department of Transportation, Division of Air Quality, and State Energy Office, with support from the N.C. Solar Center, the Triangle J Council of Government and the Centralina Council of Governments.