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Cities Set Out to Prove EV Demand With $10 Billion Shopping Budget

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Electric Car charging parking spot

Photo: byronv2

Even as electric vehicles gain more and more traction, plug-in skeptics (hello, Sergio!) still remain set it in the belief that there just isn’t demand for cars powered by electrons. And, when compared to the sheer numbers of gasoline-powered cars sold, it would seem they are correct, as EV sales make up only a few percent of all cars sold in the US each year.

However, there is one person who has inspired buyers across the nation, one man who has galvanized dozens of city governments to get up and offer just that demand which skeptics have said was missing. That man is President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump speaking

Yeah, this guy
Photo: Gage Skidmore

See, last week saw one of the Trump administration’s promised moves—moving for deregulation by reopening deliberations on the EPA’s fuel economy standards for 2022-2025, almost certainly leading to their being lowered or stalled. This has upset some people.

In particular, it would seem that this has upset some 30 cities, including New York and Chicago, as they have all hopped in on a joint effort, coordinated by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, to prove there is demand for electric vehicles by asking for some. And by some, I mean 114,000 of them, with a total estimated budget of $10 billion.

It isn’t exactly an order, though—the cities are asking automakers for the cost and feasibility for providing those vehicles, including police cruisers, street sweepers, trash trucks, fire trucks, and so on, taking what is typically the first step in a formal bidding process.

Even though this isn’t a literal order as of yet, the group of cities hope this will still influence the market, as it shows that there is, in fact, demand for zero-emissions vehicles out there, which can remain steady over several years as the orders are steadily filled.

If that order were fulfilled, it would be a sale 72% the size of all the EV sales in the US last year.

News Source: Bloomberg