Buying Multiple Electric Vehicles Can Help Save On Costs

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Warehouse stores like Costco, BJ's, and Sam's Club popularized the idea of "buying in bulk." Now this same idea is being applied to the purchasing of electric vehicles (EVs). Buying groups of these cars as opposed to single units can lessen the cost, thanks to a program in Colorado.

The SouthWest Energy Efficiency Program (SWEEP), a bulk-purchasing program sponsored by Colorado's Adams, Boulder, and Denver Counties, managed to sell 248 Nissan LEAFs in only four months. This doubled sales of these vehicles from last year in the counties in question. This also means that from September through December of 2015, the SWEEP Program accounted for five percent of LEAF sales in the United States.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks with EVs is the price tag. These cars run on technology that makes them much more expensive than their gasoline-fueled counterparts. But with the recent announcement that Tesla's new Model 3 will have a price tag of around $35,000, companies are beginning to make these vehicles more affordable. Couple this news with the work that groups like SWEEP are doing to make it cheaper to buy EVs, and owning a fleet of such vehicles makes much more sense

Per the SWEEP website, "one of the...advantages of a group purchase program is that it is a very inexpensive, but high impact, program for a local agency to run." Meaning that, if municipalities or other groups in need of fleet vehicles wish to begin purchase EVs, they can do so in bulk and drastically reduce costs.

Founded in 2001, this program also focuses on Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. 

 

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