Boulder City is looking to save a little gas money while reducing its carbon footprint.
To do both, the public works department is buying eight Nissan Leaf all-electric vehicles.
The electric vehicles join a sizable fleet that also includes hybrid vehicles.
Scott Hansen is the public works director for Boulder City. He told KNPR's State of Nevada that the money for the new cars is coming from a federal grant designed to end traffic troubles and address air pollution.
"As the name of the grant suggests, 'congestion mitigation and air quality improvements' and to me what better air quality improvement than remove the gasoline and diesel engines off the road and replace those with electrical vehicles that have no tail pipe," Hansen said.
They did face a challenge of what kind of electric vehicles to buy because the department does need trucks to carry gardening and road work equipment.
Hansen said they've decided to give the electric cars to meter readers, administrative staff, inspectors and other employees who don't need a work truck.
State law requires municipalities to use green technology for vehicles. Boulder City has used trucks that run on bio-diesel for a number of years. However, Hansen said they wanted to do more.
"Whatever trucks we can take off the road and replaced with electric vehicles we're doing a lot better for the environment," he said.
He believes the city will easily recoup the costs of putting the cars on the road in gas savings in the first year alone.
Scott Hansen, public works director, Boulder City