Contacts:
Miranda Pomiecko, (216) 698-2546; mpomiecko@cuyahogacounty.us 


The Collaborative Will Help Rapidly Electrify Municipal Fleets, Reduce Emissions and Save Money

Cleveland, Ohio - Armond Budish, Cuyahoga County Executive, today announced participation in the launch of the Climate Mayors Electric Vehicle (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. The county is one of two counties and 20 cities part of founding the collaborative led by the City of Los Angeles.

“I am excited to be a founding member of the Climate Mayors EV Purchasing Collaborative, and even more excited to say that we are leading the effort for county government participation in this innovative program,” said Executive Budish. “I want to thank the City of Los Angeles for bringing together local governments across the nation to lead in EV adoption and proud to announce that we will procure five vehicles for our county fleet in 2019. One of the most impactful things we, as a county, can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to move our fleet to electric vehicles and cleaner burning heavy duty vehicles. Reducing emissions is the number one thing we can do to help slow the impact of 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.

“Cuyahoga County continues to be a leader in creating the clean energy future that’s essential for generations to come, and I am proud to join Los Angeles and other local governments across the nation in this important initiative,” said Mike Foley, Cuyahoga County Director of Sustainability. “Electric vehicles are a cleaner form of transportation and essential in helping to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.” He added, “Prices are dropping, and they cost less to operate and maintain over their lifetime.”

The purchasing collaborative 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 Collaborative also represents a concrete demonstration of U.S. Mayors’ commitment to America’s Pledge, an initiative bringing the private and public sectors together to ensure the U.S. delivers on the country’s ambitious goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. The America’s Pledge “Opportunity Agenda” will be formally released at the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco on September 12th.

Current Founding Cities and Counties are:

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

About Climate Mayors:
Climate Mayors, founded in 2014 by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, is a bipartisan, peer-to-peer network of 409 U.S. Mayors representing 70 million Americans from 47 states committed to adopting, honoring, and upholding the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Climate Mayors are working together to demonstrate leadership on climate change through meaningful actions in their communities, and to express and build political will for effective federal and global policy. Last year, Mayor Garcetti led the release of an EV RFI with 30 cities to demonstrate demand for over 114,000 electric vehicles, trucks, and equipment.



About the Electrification Coalition:
The Electrification Coalition (EC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit group of business leaders committed to promoting policies and actions that reduce America’s dependence on oil by facilitating the deployment of electric vehicles on a mass scale. The members of the Electrification Coalition are leaders of companies representing the entire value chain of an electrified transportation system. Support for the EC’s technical support is provided through the America’s Pledge Initiative.

For more information, visit www.electrificationcoalition.org.