The City of San Diego purchased 19 Chevrolet Bolts in May of this year. The Police Department's Parking Enforcement, Abandoned Vehicle Abatement, and Admin units will make use of ten of the electric vehicles (EVs), while the remainder will be assigned to other city departments, including the Fleet Operations citywide loaner pool and Purchasing and Contracting.

When it came to deciding which EV would meet the specific needs of these units, Fleet Operations staff and end-users developed criteria that would aid in the procurement of the green vehicles, including vehicle size, price point, range, and the requirement of a cargo option. The two vehicles that met the requirements were the Bolt and Nissan Leaf.

Nissan and Chevrolet provided the Fleet Operations Department with demo vehicles of each model. City personnel from various department test drove the specific and recorded their experience on a short survey. Based on the survey responses, the Bolt was chosen.

The Fleet Operations Department is planning on procuring more EVs in the future to help meet the City’s Climate Action Plan goals. Each year, a vehicle replacement plan is reviewed and updated for any vehicles that could be replaced with an EV based on the vehicle’s mission, range requirements, supporting infrastructure (either current or planned), and the availability of comparable EV vehicle selections currently on the market.