CITY OF VACAVILLE’S ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) INCENTIVE PROGRAM
The City of Vacaville, the national leader in residential alternative fuel vehicle
incentive programs on a per capita basis, has established the goal of raising
public awareness and providing interested individuals with viable options to gas-
powered vehicles. A primary example of this is the City’s Electric Vehicle (EV)
Incentive Program.
The City of Vacaville currently leases twenty-four Toyota RAV4 EV’s. This is the
highest number of any municipality in the nation, and the most of any agency in
Northern California. In addition, the City sponsors an EV lease buy-down
program, which provides financial incentives to qualifying participants.
The main focus of the buy-down program is to reduce the cost of EV leasing,
which can be as high as $600/month. To offset this cost, the City of Vacaville
pursued and secured federal and regional air quality grants that provided up to
$6,000 in incentives to any qualifying participant who leased or purchased a
new freeway capable EV from an automobile manufacturer. As a result,
participants were able to reduce their lease payment to as low as $175/month.
Electric powered vehicles are the cleanest passenger vehicles available today,
and Vacaville has more consumer electric vehicles per capita than any other city
in the nation. Perhaps this is why the publication, EV World, has called
Vacaville "America's EV Home Town," and given it the nickname “Voltageville.”
In addition to being eco-friendly, electric vehicles have the advantage of being
able to go solo in the carpool lanes. They are also exempt from bridge tolls
during commute hours.
As of July 2004, more than 100 residents had taken advantage of the EV lease
buy-down program. The breakdown of vehicles was as follows:
General Motors EV1 (73)
Toyota RAV4 EV (16)
Chevy S-10 Electric Pickup Truck (7)
Ford Ranger EV (4)
Anyone interested in additional information can contact Ed Huestis at (707)
449-5424, or via e-mail