City of Atlanta

In 2010 Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed set the goal of reducing emissions by 20 percent. He pledged to make Atlanta a top-tier city for sustainability, and as part of the Energy Secure Cities Coalition, promised to transition Atlanta’s fleets off oil by 2025. Part of that effort included increasing alternative fuel vehicle usage and infrastructure, including electrifying municipal fleets and providing more infrastructure for public use. 

The Atlanta Electric Vehicle program allows city departments to incorporate EVs through the Total Cost of Ownership program. So far, the city has ordered 50 Chevy Volts and Nissan Leafs to deploy across five departments. Most visibly, the city is deploying four neighborhood electric vehicles on its popular Beltline jogging trail. These vehicles will likely spur greater interest among Atlanta residents to purchase their own electric cars. 

The Atlanta program has produced at least three benefits for the city. First, it has improved city finances. The cost of the electric fleet is lower over time than conventional vehicles and the purchase of electric vehicles has reduced the volatility of budgeted versus actual costs. Second, program has improved fleet performance by replacing old vehicles in need of repair, lowered maintenance costs, improved transparency because now there are more vehicles with on-board GPS/telematics, and driver satisfaction ratings have grown. Third, the program has helped the city meet its sustainability goals by increasing average fleet fuel efficiency, increasing alternative fuels as a share of total fuel consumption, helping educate and engage city employees, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the fleet.

Atlanta is working with Evercar to deploy and manage its 50 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The benefit of working with Evercar is that the city can adopt and manage its clean electric vehicles and associated new technology at scale and at zero upfront costs. Evercar helps the city by training drivers, installing and servicing the charging stations, providing a real-time analytics platform, and charging fixed rates, which reduce uncertainty about how much the city will have to pay for its fleet. 

The city’s electric vehicle owners can take advantage of pricing incentives from Georgia Power to charge at off-peak times. The rate options include:

• On-Peak – 19.2948¢ per kWh
• Off-Peak- 5.8295¢ per kWh
• Super Off-Peak – 1.2500¢ per kWh

Visit Power to Change for more information.

Thanks to the city’s program and other incentives, EV ownership in Atlanta is increasing rapidly.