Los Angeles Invests In Hybrid Cars
In one of the largest purchases of hybrid vehicles yet, Toyota Motor Sales USA has delivered more 130 Prius hybrid electric-gasoline cars units to the city of Los Angeles.
“The Prius fleet agreement with the city of Los Angeles is an important step in Toyota’s continuing efforts to reduce the environmental impact automobiles have in major cities,” said Ken Camarillo, fleet field manager for Toyota Motor Sales. “We look forward to expanding fleet sales of our hybrid technology in Los Angeles and many other major cities throughout the U.S.”
The agreement to purchase the vehicles began early in 2002 with an original order of 23 units. Los Angeles bought the Prius fleet for use by a variety of municipal agencies, such as parking enforcement.
The vehicles have proven so popular that the city increased the size of their Prius fleet to its current level, and has plans to purchase more units in the future. The city of New York now has the largest fleet of hybrids.
“The fleet purchase of the Toyota Prius is a significant step toward achieving our goal of having one of the cleanest, most efficient big city fleets in the nation,” said Jim Bonnville, Los Angeles director of fleet services.
As part of the transaction, the University of Toyota’s Technical and Body Training Development department provided a training course for Los Angeles city service technicians on Prius operation and proper maintenance of the hybrid system. The training course was developed by TMS technical & body training development manager, John Saia, and Toyota technical training administrator, Natae Cutler. A specialist in the Toyota Hybrid System, Cutler also conducted the course.
“As a result of the city of Los Angeles technician training, we’ve created a new ‘off the shelf’ curriculum package that can be used to train Prius fleet customer technicians in other regions,” said John Saia. The new training package will be available to Toyota regions in early 2003.
“The training program conducted by the University of Toyota was an invaluable tool in properly training our service technicians to ensure proper and safe maintenance of our Prius fleet,” said Richard Coulson, automotive supervisor for training safety and compliance for the city of Los Angeles.
Introduced in 1997, the Prius was the world’s first mass produced hybrid electric-gas vehicle, combining an efficient gasoline engine and an electric motor. It automatically switches between the gasoline engine and electric motor, depending on driving needs. Because the gasoline engine recharges an onboard battery pack, the Prius never needs to be plugged in.
The five-passenger Prius has an fuel economy rating of 52 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city and 45 mpg on the highway. It also is certified as a super ultra low emission vehicle (SULEV).
In addition to the cities of Los Angeles and New York, other city and state government agencies that have chosen Prius include California, Washington, Houston, Oregon, San Francisco, Austin, Florida DEP, Nevada, Colorado, Denver, Missouri, San Antonio, and Maine. Even smaller towns such as Vail, Colorado and Mesquite, Texas have ordered the Toyota hybrid.
