The City of Atlanta took delivery of its first five plug-in hybrid electric vehicles from Vision Fleet, as part of a 50-vehicle electric vehicle (EV) pilot program. City officials hope these vehicles will help the city reduce vehicle emissions by 20% by the year 2020, according to Vision Fleet.

The company trained the drivers of these first vehicles and will continue to provide operational and management support as the EV fleet continues to expand this year, the company stated.

The demo project is projected to cost $2.7 million. The financing structure of the contract bundles the expenses of purchasing, fueling, and maintaining the electric vehicles into a guaranteed rate that's lower than the cost of conventional vehicles, according to the city. Vision Fleet will help determine which vehicles should be replaced with the electric models.

Vision Fleet previously worked with the City of Indianapolis on a similar project to deploy 425 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The project has already saved the city 90,000 gallons of gasoline since it began in February of 2014, according to the company.