Electric scooters keep getting dumped into the Arkansas River
10 August 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The City of Wichita has replaced two older Ford Fusions in the City’s fleet with two all-electric Chevrolet Volts. The City also installed a 240-volt electric charging station in the City Hall garage.
“We’re constantly looking for ways to be more eco-friendly,” Mayor Brandon Whipple said. “This purchase is part of a pilot to see if electric vehicles are an effective and efficient part of our fleet and an alternative to gas cars.”
The two Ford Fusions were slated to be sold this year.
These are the numbers the City released about the cost of the Volts:
The cars cost $28,250 each, a total of $56,500.
The charging station cost was $17,750, but the City expects to get a $10,000 rebate from Evergy.
The City hopes the all-electric cars will save money in the long run.
The mayor said the City’s current gas cars average about 120,000 miles — a life span of about 12 years.
He said the new all-electric vehicles will have a life span of about 300,000 to 400,000 miles, or about 20 to 26 years of use.
“The electric cars will reduce gas consumption by about 4,180 gallons per year,” Whipple said.
At today’s gas price of $3.79 a gallon, that amounts to $316,844 in savings if the cars last 20 years.
The all-electric cars take about five hours to charge fully. We do not know the electricity cost of charging over 20 years of use.
The City did not provide other maintenance costs for gas vs. electric vehicles.
“If the pilot is successful, the City will consider adding more electric vehicles in the future to replace our vehicles as they age out,” Whipple said.
He said that as electric cars become more prevalent, federal grants may be available to the City.
“We are looking into ways in which we can build upon our electric fleet but also the increased emergence of electric cars, so, hopefully, we’ll have more details for you in the future.”