City of Berkeley commits to purchase 40 plug-in hybrid vehicles

Nov 2nd 2006 at 2:01PM

The city of Berkeley, California has committed to buy a fleet of plug-in hybrid vehicles as soon as a car maker actually starts to build some. Berkeley is planning on purchasing 40 plug-in hybrids and follows a previous decision by Marin County to make a similar "soft-order". Even though no car-maker is currently building such vehicles, municipalities are indicating their intentions in an effort to demonstrate that there is sufficient demand to justify production. Several other Bay Area governments and agencies have also indicated their intentions to purchase plug-in hybrids, including San Francisco, Oakland and Pacific Gas and Electric.