Coachella to purchase 17 Tesla vehicles for community rideshare services
You'll soon be seeing a lot more Tesla vehicles in Coachella. The Coachella City Council will buy 17 Model Y Teslas for rideshare services for the community.
On Wednesday, the city council approved a rideshare services agreement with Latino Equity Advocacy Policy Institute (LEAP). Councilmembers also authorized the city manager to sign a master lease equity agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management Inc. for the purchase of the vehicles.
The ridesharing program will provide for trips throughout the community for a variety of uses including employment, doctor visits, commute to school and will be managed by the LEAP Institute, city documents show.
"Our intent is to make it available for migrant farmworkers, folks that work in the hospitality industry, folks that need go to college, medical visits," said Mayor Steven Hernandez.
According to a city presentation, the vehicle has a passenger capacity of 7 riders. The service is planned to operate seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting in 2024. It will be available from an on-demand app.
According to city documents, each Tesla vehicle will cost $60,530. The total price for all 17 vehicles will be $1,029,010, however, the city will use Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program grant funds for the purchase.
The city received the grant in 2020 from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (“HCD”). City documents show that one of the original plans was for the city to use the grant for 40 vans for use by Calvans, however, the LEAP Institute came to the city with a proposal for rideshare services using Teslas.
"One of the programmatic commitments the City identified in the grant was that the City would provide rideshare services in partnership with the Latino Equity Advocacy and Policy Institute (LEAP Institute). The LEAP Institute’s proposal identified it would provide the rideshare programmatic services by utilizing Model Y Tesla vehicles purchased with the grant funding awarded."
- Coachella City Council Agenda 7/26/23
Hernandez raised concerns over the infrastructure of this service, with the city only having two charging stations. Maritza Martinez, Coachella's public works director, told Hernandez that the city is working with Tesla to add more charging stations at no charge.
LEAP Institute will designate a program manager who will serve as the city's primary point of
contact. The Program Manager will appoint members to the Program Team to handle operations, dispatch, driver onboarding, driver management, fleet maintenance, marketing, and data analytics.
Stay with News Channel 3 for continuing updates.
