According to a city press release, each gasoline-powered sedan in Indy’s fleet would have cost taxpayers about $9,000 per year over the next decade, including purchase, fuel, maintenance and insurance. The Vision Fleet vehicles will cost about $7,400 per year over that period, saving taxpayers about $1,600 annually per vehicle.
Lotter said the city will pay its annual fees to Vision Fleet through the savings on fuel and other vehicle costs. He said the city's total fleet costs, including payments to Vision Fleet, will be "nominally less" this year, and will decline by 2016. City officials couldn't immediately specify total fleet costs.So they don't even know what total fleet costs are, but they're sure there's a cost savings in their somewhere. According to the IBJ's report, the administration put out an RFI to find financing for a fleet conversion, and the respondents were traditional vehicle-financing companies. Vision Fleet did not respond to the RFI. I'm not sure why the leasing of these vehicles wasn't publicly bid, but it seems that none of the state's procurement laws apply to this corrupt administration and nobody really gives a damn. DPW says it would have cost $12 to $13 million to buy the cars outright. Really? Who pays for all of the electrical charging stations that will need to be installed? What's the tab for that?
Brylawski's last electric car venture, Bright Automotive, went belly up after he blew through $15 million. He blamed the federal government for not providing his company with a $450 million low-interest loan as the reason for his business' failure. The City of Indianapolis is Vision Fleet's only customer. I repeat, we are the company's first and only customer. It looks like the Boulder, Colorado-based company slapped up a website just in time for today's announcement. I feel for Ballard's successor already. He or she is going to be spending most of their first term figuring out how to undo all of the bad deals this mayor has done that will cost this city dearly for decades to come.
UPDATE: Fellow blogger Pat Andrews mentions these dates that are noteworthy:
- Vision Fleet Funding and Indy Vision Funding were formally incorporated to do business in Indiana on March 19, 2014. Vision Fleet Funding was originally incorporated on August 6, 2013 in the state of Delaware.
- The company's contract with DPW was signed by Brylawski and DPW Director Loris Miser on February 8, 2014. The company should not have been allowed to sign a contract with the City until it had been incorporated to do business in this state.
14 comments:
The RFI was just a ruse to get information from other potential bidders and give it to the charlatan behind this company. The deal was fixed just like every other contract awarded by the city.
Slightly off topic, and in today's Star we see that the airport is going to double it's solar farm. Off course since solar energy is three to four times more expensive than IPL's generated electricty the users of IPL energy are forced to subsidize the solar farm. And, of course, we hear the usual disclaimer that this amounts to only several cents a month to the average customer.
Why do the ratepayer's of IPL have to subsidize the airport? Just how much money annually do the ratepayer's of IPL "subsidize" the airport? And is there anything in this town that remotely resembles ethical governance?
I believe the lion's share of the profits from that solar endeavor are going to the political cronies who were awarded the contract to erect it. I think they just make a land lease payment to the airport. Courtesy of our state legislature, they don't have to pay any property tax on their valuable improvements to the property.
Does that include the user fees to pay for the lost parking revenue. Remember, everytime the city bags a parking spot, they have to pony up the lost revenue, 24/7
So what is the legal basis for the airport to be paid more than the going rate for their solar energy?
The IURC allows public utility companies to pay up to 8 times their regular rate for electricity generated by solar power. Thank your environmental terrorists for that. The airport leased the land to this newly-formed company that included a bunch of Ballard campaign contributors which built and operates the solar farm on the airport's land. They are getting the profits from it.
Is there no way to stop this guy? All these shenanigans....it's frightening!
THIS ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL! ...but Prosecutor Terry Curry "has been tough on crime." Yeah, a city with record crime perpetuated by its elitist political class. I detect the putrid smell of the Kremlin, or the Forbidden City.
So the airport leases the land and it's still tax exempt! And the lessor then get paid 3 to 4 times the value of their electricity. What's wrong with this picture?
Where Diognes when we really need him?
Who are the members of the IURC who perpetrated this fiasco? What are their industry affliations?
How about an answer to Anonymous 9:29 PM? nquiring minds want to know.
I think the U.S. attorney general should be asked to audit the state of Indiana from top to bottom for the last several decades. I wonder if that's even possible?
Gary, thought this was interesting news : http://ngtnews.com/vision-fleet-added-to-gsa-schedule-to-provide-ev-fleet-solutions/
Pricing Information! https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS33F0056V/GS33F0056V_online.htm
VisionFleet GSA Pricing Information!
https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS33F007DA/0P5CC7.38U826_GS-33F-007DA_VISIONFLEETPRICELIST17DEC2015.PDF
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