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West Valley City Journal

City prepping for future with electric vehicle purchase

Jun 17, 2021 03:20PM ● By Travis Barton

The City Council unanimously approved the purchase of an electric vehicle in May. (Photo by Andrew Roberts/Unsplash)_

By Travis Barton | [email protected]

West Valley City is feeling electric. A little bit at least. 

The City Council unanimously approved the purchase of a Tesla SUV in May as city officials aim to prepare for the future of automotive technology. 

With major auto companies like Ford unveiling its electric pickup truck, F-150 Lightning, on May 19 and General Motors plan to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035, City Manager Wayne Pyle told the council they feel it a good idea to familiarize themselves with the cars and the process of acquiring those cars. 

It doesn’t mean the city will acquire a fleet of electric vehicles in the next year, “but in the next 10 years we probably will,” Pyle told the council. 

Officials want to find out what would be the car’s best use, maintenance challenges, how the motors are set up, the longevity on the car batteries, and begin forming relationships with manufacturers. Purchasing the Tesla allows them to gather that necessary data. And for those purposes, Tesla was the only service with a vehicle to test for that right now.

“We’re ready to give this a try,” Pyle said. 

While the Ford truck begins to roll out, the same goes for the planned Rivian pickup truck, a new American startup brand. The city put down a $1,000 deposit the Rivian R1T, but it won’t be available until next year. 

Councilman Steve Buhler expressed initial concern in a study meeting prior to the vote that the data gathered from Tesla might not translate to actual fleet purchases in the future if they end up buying Fords instead.

Pyle said they’d like to gather information from any manufacturer on the general set up of these vehicles, adding this doesn’t mean they’ll buy a Tesla fleet over the next 10 years, but there is “knowledge to be gained” working with these cars and people. Officials reached out to both Ford and GM, but won’t have vehicles ready for them this year.  

Eric Madsen, the city’s fleet manager felt like the Tesla is “the way to go.”

“It’s got a proven track record, I think it’ll be a good one to get our feet wet with,” he said. 

Buhler was happy with the approach of testing one rather than an entire fleet. 

Officials plan to shift the car around to different departments to find out where it fits best, collecting data in a variety of ways. The modely Y compact SUV they are purchasing should go 326 miles between charges, according to Madsen. 

“The possibilities are endless,” Madsen said. 

One resident, Jim Vesock, told the council prior to its vote they should wait to see what other, perhaps less expensive, companies come out with in the near future rather than approve what he felt would be a “toy” for the city. 

But the council felt comfortable in the decision. Councilwoman Karen Lang said she liked there would be no gas or oil changes needed in addition to the 10-year warranty on batteries. If there’s a problem, Tesla will come to the facility to check out the car.

“There’s so many pluses with this,” she said, also asking for an annual report on the savings this provides. She did request to not have the self-driving package as part of the car. 

Mayor Ron Bigelow said there is “symbolism” in this decision as well as the city makes efforts to be more environmentally friendly. 

The future of electric vehicles could arrive soon with the Biden Administration aiming to implement 500,000 charging stations by 2030. Driving education website Zutobi recently ranked Utah as the third most equipped state for electric vehicles with 67 charging points per 100,000 vehicles behind California and Vermont.