A handful of town employees will soon be driving around in style — all while saving money and helping the environment.

Administrative Analyst Evan Melillo said he’s spent the past six months working out the particulars of how to acquire electric cars for some Town of Dartmouth employees at the lowest price, and determined that leasing would be the best option.

This week, the town leased three new all-electric cars — the BMW i3 — with three more on the way. Each car will cost about $800 per year.

“A lot of people don’t associate BMW as an electric vehicle. BMW is very excited about doing this, and they came in at the lowest price,” said Town Administrator David Cressman. “A lot of people think that it’s going to be expensive, but it ended up being a $66.53-per-month deal.”

Melillo was able to whittle away at the cost through the Massachusetts Electric Vehicle Incentive Program, a grant program which provided $7,500 per car. The program awarded another $7,500 to cover the installation of charging stations. The town would also qualify for an additional $7,500 from federal funding per vehicle if the cars were leased.

“The biggest challenge was getting it in under the budget,” said Melillo. “The competitive selection was the most difficult — trying to get quotes and trying to get something that fit for the town.”

“We went out and we looked at trying to get a Nissan Leaf because that’s what we thought of when we thought of electric vehicles,” said Cressman. “But then we got some other quotes. So we tried Ford and Mercedes, but the three of them didn’t want to deal with the town on a leasing basis.”

The lowest quote was from BMW Gallery of Norwood, pricing a three-year lease at $9,895 per car. That quote includes the federal tax incentive, dealer incentives and fleet pricing. After factoring in the state’s tax credit, the cost per car drops to just under $800 a year for three years.

And there’s no need to fill up at the gas station, either.

The vehicles charge through self-coiling, 240-volt cord connected to a small charging station. One station is already installed at town hall, and to promote electric car usage, the charging station will be accessible to the public during business hours. The town will charge users for the cost of electricity.

There will also be publicly accessible stations at the Water Department on 751 Allen St. and at the Department of Public Works Administration Building on 739 Russells Mills Road.

Melillo said the BMWs will take about three to four hours to charge at the station and will run for about 80 miles on a full charge. Because the cars lack a gas motor, their use will be limited to jobs that require a lot of driving around town. For instance, the Department of Public Works will use the new cars for water meter reading.

Two of the cars will go to the Department of Public Works. The Conservation Commission, the Building Department, the Council on Aging and the Dartmouth Police Department will get one each.

“It’s going to be for our community service officer,” said Police Chief Robert Szala. “He’s assigned to inspections of all the town’s licenses. He routinely goes around to the different businesses and makes sure that they’re following the licenses.”

Tim Barber, senior engineer at the Department of Public Works, said the new vehicles will be an asset to town employees.

“I think it will save a lot of money, and it helps the environment. We do a lot of driving — it could be 50 miles a day driving around town,” said Barber.

Cressman said the town had acquired a few hybrid cars a few years ago, but this marked the first time the town purchased fully electric vehicles.

“This a continuation of our sustainability initiative,” said Cressman.

He said the electric cars follow a long line of green choices the town has made, including an active solar initiative, changing the lighting in town hall, replacing the HVAC system and windows at the library and installing L.E.D. lights into streetlights.

The three cars that arrived this week will be put to use as soon as registration is complete. Three more electric BMWs will arrive in a couple weeks.