Goshen leaders unveil new hybrid city vehicles

GOSHEN ‒ The city of Goshen is going green and hoping to save some green. On Monday, leaders unveiled several new hybrid city vehicles. Their goal is to reduce fuel costs and the expense of replacement vehicles, which is critical during a time of extremely tight budgets. This week, some city employees will be driving the five new hybrid vehicles. With help from the Michiana Area Council of Governments, the city will be paying very little for them. “Five of them at very little costs, just a little over a $1,000 per car, compared to their normal sticker price of $32,000 a car, so MACOG was able to get them through air mitigation funds, federal funds, and so very little costs for us," said Mayor Allan Kauffman Depending on its speed, it can run on a 300 volt battery In the back of the vehicle. The gas powered engine doesn’t need to do all the work. “Basically, the engine comes and goes as it needs to,” said Carl Gaines, fleet manager for the city. “It runs when it needs to, basically to charge the auxiliary battery. You can be driving down the road at any time under 40 miles per hour, and the engine may just shut down and be running completely on electric.” Fuel savings will be substantial “This vehicle gets 30 miles per gallon around the city, which is double what some of the vehicles that they are replacing, some of the pickup trucks get," said Kauffman. The city says this is the first time it has had a chance to go green with hybrid vehicles. In addition to these five, they will be getting five more. “We've got five of the Ford Escapes going on the road,” said Kauffman. “We'll have five Toyota Priuses later this month or early in February going on the road. So we're pretty excited about being able to save a little money on fuel.” In addition to the low cost of them, they will also save the city money on replacement vehicles. “We're always trying to figure out ways to make our cities greener,” said Kauffman. “This is one way we can do that”