New mayor, new wheels.
Daniel Lurie is ditching the gas-chugging Chevy Tahoe provided for the city mayor and swapping it for a zero-emissions Rivian R1S SUV.
He’s paying for it himself.
Lurie is shelling out $134,106 and gifting the vehicle to the city of San Francisco. He’ll be the first mayor to enjoy the new electric vehicle, driven by an SFPD security detail. Subsequent mayors will also get to enjoy the ride.
For Lurie, who spent more than $8 million on his political ambitions, the Rivian may not be a huge expense. But any donation to the city valued at more than $10,000 triggers the need for approval from the Board of Supervisors.
An accept-and-spend resolution document obtained by The Standard shows City Controller Greg Wagner and City Administrator Carmen Chu have approved the gift. It’s likely to go to the Budget and Finance Committee in the coming weeks, at the discretion of board President Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.
Unlike former Mayor London Breed’s gas-chugging, 16 mpg Chevy, Rivians are the new hotness in electric vehicles. The Irvine-based firm has a dealership right in Hayes Valley that doubles as a coworking space.
On the campaign trail, Lurie regularly spoke about environmentalism, touting his electric vehicles — a Tesla and a Rivian truck — and his desire to expand accessible public EV charging stations in the city. He was often spotted riding his e-bike to campaign events.
The R1S Lurie bought for city purposes costs more than the usual Rivian SUV hot off the assembly line; those start at $75,000. The extra cost likely comes from the tricked-out security features, which are mentioned in the resolution.
Lurie’s Rivian is more than double the price of Breed’s Chevy Tahoe, which starts at $59,000 for the latest model.
But the late Mayor Ed Lee had them all beat. The famously humble mayor was driven around the city in a Chevy Volt, also an electric vehicle, which generally goes for half the cost of a Tahoe.