Three new Chevrolet Volts were added to Bellevue's city fleet, the first all-electric, highway-capable cars in the city fleet.
The new cars help the city with its goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but officials say it will help with a saving money as gas prices have risen, according to a city press release.
“We are not only being good stewards of our environment but also of tax dollars by gradually transitioning to a cleaner, greener fleet,” said Mayor Conrad Lee in a prepared statement. “We are walking the talk, and showing our community that it is feasible to use greener cars.”
The Volts, which will be added to the city's motor pool, cost $40,000 each, and were purchased with the help from a federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant.
The Chevrolet Volt can go 35 miles on battery power and an onboard gas generator can produce electricity for an additional 340 miles, but it is expected that most staff would use the car in electric mode, according to the city.
The three cars joins the 230 passenger vehicles in the city fleet, which includes 120 hybrids. According to the city, the high-efficiency vehicles save the city more than $100,000 and 30,000 gallons of gasoline each year, and reduces annual fleet carbon dioxide emissions by 250 metric tons.
Throughout Bellevue, there are 50 public-use charge stations, including ones on commercial property and 14 public charging stations on city property and parks that were installed late last year.
For a list of charging stations in Bellevue, check out the U.S. Department of Energy's map of charging stations.
Several electric auto makers also have showrooms in Bellevue, including and Fisker.
-- Information from the City of Bellevue
