One of the goals of Smart Columbus is to “introduce 300 EVs [electric vehicles] into public fleets by 2020,” and the City of Columbus has created a Universal Term Contract (UTC) to facilitate the EV adoption process for public entities, according to a recent Smart Columbus Playbook. The city created “a request for proposal (RFP) that allowed bidders to offer innovative financial arrangements in their proposals,” according to Smart Columbus. Columbus then developed an innovative program that allowed the city to “lease vehicles for a short period followed by a title transfer to the city, attain vehicle pricing at triple-net dealer invoice, and capture a portion of the federal EV tax credit.” The program, a UTC for vehicle procurement, can be used by any local public entity in the state. For more, read the Smart Columbus Playbook.
Columbus develops UTC to simplify EV adoption for fleets