CHARLOTTE — Charlotte City Council is planning to buy 45 new electric vehicles when the new fiscal year starts in July. One Charlotte City Council member is asking the city manager not to purchase them from Tesla.
At-Large Democratic Councilmember Lawana Slack-Mayfield made the remarks at Monday night’s council meeting.
“I want to publicly state that we have a number of EV companies out there now. I would prefer if the city of Charlotte moved in another direction than purchasing more Tesla vehicles,” Councilmember Mayfield said. “It has been proven on multiple occasions that the instability exists, and I think we can make better choices of tax dollars and identify companies that align with our city’s goals and expectations of truly being a welcoming city.”
No councilmembers responded to Mayfield’s statement. The Charlotte City Council will have to vote to authorize the EV purchases at a later date.
Excluding the airport and CATS, the city of Charlotte has 178 electric vehicles in its fleet, and only 15 of them are Teslas. Of the 178 electric vehicles, 103 are Fords.
The budget also calls for purchasing 155 hybrid vehicles and converting more of the buses at the airport to electric.
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