SAN FRANCISCO — Cities, counties, and water agencies in the Bay Area have joined forces for what is being billed as one of the largest single government purchases of all-electric vehicles in the country.
The six cities, two counties, and two water agencies have together bought 90 electric vehicles with the help of a $2.8 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional transportation agency, officials with the Bay Area Climate Collaborative said on Tuesday.
The vehicles will save more than $500,000 in fuel costs and about 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over five years, said Rafael Reyes, the collaborative’s executive director.
The collaborative — a public-private initiative of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group that was started by three Bay Area mayors — developed the proposal for funding. It was submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
‘‘The Bay Area is clearly in a leadership role here,’’ Reyes said.
The vehicles include the Ford Focus and the Nissan Leaf. The total cost was $5 million, with about $2 million coming from funds set aside by the governments and agencies to buy vehicles.
The 10 governments and agencies are: San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Santa Rosa, Fremont, Concord, the Sonoma County Water Agency, Marin Municipal Water District, and Alameda and Sonoma counties.
San Jose and three other Bay Area cities bought 50 all-electric vehicles last year, Reyes said.
The all-electric vehicles are a small part of the cities, counties, and agencies’ overall fleets. But Reyes said the purchases shows what can be done.
‘‘We’re just scratching the surface,’’ he said.