Those booking a Yellow Cab in the area soon might find themselves riding in a Tesla.

Columbus Yellow Cab recently announced the purchase of 10 Tesla Model 3 cars as part of its transition to electric vehicles.

Morgan Kauffman, the company's owner and CEO, said he decided to buy the cars as part of his commitment to create fewer emissions.

“To show the feasibility of going electric and, potentially in the next few years, do it in a way that is carbon net neutral and make it convenient and appropriately priced,” Kauffman said.

Of the 170 cars on average in the Columbus Yellow Cab fleet, 20 are electric, Kauffman said. The goal is to go fully electric as soon as possible, he said.

Riding in an electric versus a gas-powered car will not increase the price of the ride. The Teslas will be on the road in the next two weeks, Kauffman said.

“We’ve been around for 91 years, and so we have served the city in every way we can, but we are showing that sustainability can be a part of everyone’s everyday life, and we want to lead by example,” Kauffman said.

The Central Ohio Transit Authority also is working to lessen its carbon footprint. The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded COTA $2.6 million to transition away from diesel-powered buses by 2025.

The funds are part of the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Program. COTA plans to use the money to replace diesel buses with electric buses and add charging stations around the city.

In COTA’s bus fleet, 57% of the vehicles are low-emission; 178 run on compressed natural gas, and six are hybrid-electric. The authority is buying 28 CNG buses a year to become diesel-free by 2025. COTA also plans to add at least 10 electric buses to its fleet by 2021.

These projects are part of Smart Columbus, said Jordan Davis, director of the initiative for the Columbus Partnership. In 2016, Columbus was the sole winner of the U.S. Smart Cities challenge and was granted $40 million from the U.S. DOT and $10 million from Paul G. Allen Philanthropies. The $10 million is going toward reducing emissions in Columbus, which starts with transportation, Davis said.

The city of Columbus has 100 electric vehicles in its fleet and plans to add another 100.

Since the city's initiative began in 2017, more than 500 charging ports have been installed. Smart Columbus' goal is to install 900 charging ports across central Ohio by March, including at 65 workplaces that have partnered with Smart Columbus to provide the ports to their employees.

Editor's note: The number and locations of the planned charging ports was incorrect in a previous version of this story.

anichols@dispatch.com

@AshtonNichols_