By Steven Symes 
The city government for St. Louis has recently purchased nine Ford Mach-E all-electric crossovers, angering critics. They think the $49,000 price tag per EV is extravagant and grossly unnecessary. But others believe the move is critical to the municipality moving into the future of transportation.
Parents are shuttling their unaccompanied children around in robot taxis.
According to Fox 2, the mayor’s office claims the Mach-Es were purchased because they’re “economical and cost saving” as vehicles. We’d love to see the numbers used to justify that kind of statement, especially with comparisons of cheaper gas-powered options.
Apparently before the plan was to purchase a small fleet of Chevy Bolts, but those EVs were discontinued. Why other, less expensive electric cars weren’t chosen over the Ford Mach-E isn’t clear, because that seems like quite the leap. But the report mentions that the city claims the Mach-E was the next least-expensive alternative. Interesting.
These Ford EVs aren’t being used by police but instead are going to other departments. Four go to the health department, three to forest park rangers, one to the streets department, and one to the comptroller’s office. Also very interesting.
This claim that the Mach-E is the next-cheapest option is curious. After all, you can get a number of options for well under $49,000. Among them is the Kia Niro EV, Nissan Leaf, Mini Cooper Electric, Hyundai Kona Electric, Fiat 500e, Volvo EX30, and Chevy Equinox EV. That’s just the beginning of the list.
On top of that, many times when arguing that EVs are less costly to own, proponents focus on the cost of gas, don’t talk about variable electricity rates, and seem to forget the electric cars end up in the shop for repairs. We know that’s a hotly debated topic, but in this case being on the bleeding edge of technology using taxpayer dollars, especially in a “hot” crossover, seems wasteful.
Image via Fox 2 St. Louis/YouTube
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[…] is hardly the first city to buy up a bunch of Ford Mach-E all-electric crossovers, but like elsewhere some citizens have a real problem with what they […]