Obama administration looks to purchase 100 electric vehicles"

The General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees two-thirds of the 600,000-plus vehicles in the U.S. government's fleet, is putting the final touches on its first 100-unit purchase of electric vehicles, according to a U.S. Department of Energy official. Patrick Davis, the DOE's vehicle technologies program director, told a Senate panel that:

The administration shares your commitment to upgrading the federal fleet and is finalizing the procurement of 100 electric vehicles.

According to Automotive News (sub. req.), GSA spokeswoman, Sara Merriam, declined to say when the purchases would be officially announced, which makes and models are involved and when the vehicles would join the government's fleet. However, back in early May, when the GSA announced that the average miles-per-gallon rating of the government's fleet of vehicles jumped from 19.1 in 2010 to 23.4, GSA administrator, Martha Johnson, stated:

We will be depending on innovative technologies and products coming out of Detroit to help us achieve these goals, and I am confident that American automakers will continue to rise to the challenge.

So, we'd assume that the Chevrolet Volt – though, technically not an electric vehicle – will account for the bulk majority of the GSA's 100-unit order, while the Nissan Leaf – with its made in Japan status– won't be as popular a pick. Your thoughts?



Source: Autoblog Green