Led by the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC), a public-private initiative aimed at increasing the local clean energy economy, the announcement is said to be the largest electric government fleet deployment in the United States.

The fleet was funded by the agencies’ own budgets, but supported by $2.8m (£1.6m) funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to offset the incremental cost of the electric vehicles compared to conventionally powered models, and to support the installation of charging points.

Most of the fleet is made up of the Ford Focus BEV, at 64 vehicles, and 23 Nissan LEAFs, but three large electric vans are being supplied through Zenith Motors. Sonoma County, Alameida County and San Francisco will be take the 27, 26 and 14 vehicles respectively, while the rest will be split between Concord, Santa Rosa, San Jose, Oakland and Fremont.

BACC executive director, Rafael Reyes, said: ‘These vehicles add to a series of fleet projects facilitated in the Bay Area by the BACC for a total of 140 electric vehicles in the past 12 months, with more to come, so agencies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower costs and insulate themselves from gas price hikes. These municipalities are demonstrating great leadership, showing the benefits of EVs in fleets and providing a model for other fleets to follow.’