EL SEGUNDO, Calif.,
May 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/
-- Today, hundreds of AT&T employees in California were among the first to test-drive
the latest electric vehicles (EV) as part of a statewide education
initiative led by the California Plug-In Electric Vehicle
Collaborative (PEV Collaborative) to help California reach 250,000 electric vehicles
purchased in the state by the end of the year. During the event,
AT&T employees had the opportunity to test drive and experience
nearly two dozen electric vehicles, learn about AT&T's employee
discounts on EVs, local, state and federal incentives, and find out
how they can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The DRIVE THE DREAM Ride-and-Drive Summer
Celebration event, hosted by AT&T California, was
the first in a series of test-drive events as part of the summer
ride-and-drive campaign. The initiative will include public
education events and activities, including a series of similar
test-drive events at corporate and community locations throughout
the state over the next several months.
"The future depends on the well-being of our planet," said
Ken McNeely, president, AT&T
California. "AT&T is committed to reducing our own carbon
footprint – improving the efficiency of our network and making our
own fleet more fuel and carbon efficient. Now, we are asking our
employees to help make a difference in reducing greenhouse gas
emissions for the good of our state."
During the kick-off event, McNeely asked all 36,000 AT&T
employees statewide to consider an electric vehicle when purchasing
their next personal car and encouraged them to take advantage of
the employee discounts programs offered by AT&T, where
employees can save an average of $3,279 off the MSRP on select
vehicles. McNeely also announced that the company is
evaluating options to increase the number of EV charging stations
for California employees.
"With the support and leadership from companies like AT&T
and our other collaborative partners, we can become the first state
to achieve a quarter-million plug-in vehicles," said California
Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative Executive Director
Christine Kehoe. "Combined federal
and state incentives, California EV consumers can save up to an
additional $10,000 per electric
vehicle purchased. All these efforts help reach Californians with
the benefits of plug-in vehicles to help achieve this goal."
Under Governor Brown, California has set the most aggressive clean
transportation goals in the country, including creating a charging
network to handle 1 million electric vehicles by 2020.
Businesses and public sector partners have joined in the
collaboration and initiated innovative programs to enhance
workplace charging, fleet vehicles and provide incentives to
employees for the purchase of PEVs. The PEV Collaborative
reported that more than 50,000 plug-in vehicles were purchased in
California during the past six
months alone, for the first time reaching 200,000, a 25 percent
increase since October 2015.
"California is the home of car
culture and known for setting trends that the rest of the nation
and the world follow," added Mary
Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board.
"Partnerships like the one between AT&T and the PEV
Collaborative help spread the word that electric vehicles are
powerful, quiet and cool. We hope other companies will catch the
wave."
The DRIVE THE DREAM Ride-and-Drive Summer
Celebration event hosted by AT&T California was a
high-energy event featuring ice cream, music and the latest
electric cars from several major automakers. Hundreds of
employees attended the event to speak with automakers, charging
station manufacturers and PEV Collaborative partners, providing
information about plug-in vehicles and incentive programs available
to encourage purchases.
"As a member of the PEV Collaborative, Ford is proud to partner
with AT&T and other companies to help grow the plug-in hybrid
market in California and beyond,"
said Ford Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering
Director Cynthia Williams. "At
Ford, we're committed to changing the way the world moves. Working
with the PEV Collaborative is an important way we lean into this
commitment with our California
customers."
AT&T's participation in the DRIVE THE DREAM
Ride-and-Drive Celebration builds off its commitment to
help create a more sustainable future by enhancing the efficiency
of its network, delivering low-carbon customer solutions and
supporting organizations that help conserve and protect natural
resources. In 2015, AT&T announced a new goal to enable carbon
savings 10 times the footprint of its operations by 2025. The
company has invested $565 million to
make its fleet more fuel and carbon efficient and set a goal to
deploy 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles (AFV) through 2018,
including more than 4,400 AFVs across California. More
information about AT&T's sustainability goals, programs and
impacts is available at:
http://www.about.att.com/content/csr/home/planet.html.
About AT&T:
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions around the globe connect
with leading entertainment, mobile, high speed Internet and voice
services. We're the world's largest provider of pay TV. We have TV
customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. We offer the
best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider*. And we help
businesses worldwide serve their customers better with our mobility
and highly secure cloud solutions.
Additional information about AT&T products and services is
available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at
@ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at
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*Global coverage claim based on offering discounted voice and
data roaming; LTE roaming; voice roaming; and world-capable
smartphone and tablets in more countries than any other U.S. based
carrier. International service required. Coverage not
available in all areas. Coverage may vary per country and be
limited/restricted in some countries.
About the CALIFORNIA PLUG-IN
ELECTRIC VEHICLE COLLABORATIVE:
The California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative is a
46-member public/private organization focused on accelerating the
adoption of plug-in electric vehicles to meet the state's economic,
energy and environmental goals. For more information visit:
http://www.pevcollaborative.org
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