Businessgreen.com: Around 40 per cent of local authorities have at least one electric vehicle in their fleet, with Dundee leading the way, research finds
There is no doubt electric vehicles are taking off in the UK. Last year, sales of plug-in cars quadrupled to almost 14,500, of which just under half were pure battery electric vehicles rather than plug-in hybrids.
This is an astonishing figure given only around 20,000 electric cars have been registered under the government's £5,000 plug-in grant scheme since it started in January 2011. It is easy to see why manufacturers are celebrating.
Nissan has reported a 33 per cent rise in sales of its trailblazing Leaf electric car over 2014, securing a 26 per cent share of a European market that saw over 56,000 electric vehicles (EVs) purchased. Across the Renault-Nissan alliance, sales of zero emission cars grew by almost a quarter in 2014 and the group now sells around one in two electric vehicles worldwide.
What has remained less clear is the number of EVs in the public sector, a figure the government has been keen to boost by offering funding to councils and bodies such as the police and NHS to take on electric fleets.
But research by Glasgow-based Intelligent Car Leasing has determined that the number of electric vehicles in local authority fleets now stands at 531. The company compiled the figure from Freedom of Information requests to 433 councils the length and breadth of the country and armed with a 95 per cent response rate came up with some interesting results.
Dundee City Council leads the way for EV adoption with 38 vehicles following an active programme of replacing diesel pool cars with electric alternatives, while the area has over 30 public charging points, including fast-chargers. The Council was still formulating a comment as BusinessGreen went to press.
Its total is almost 60 per cent more than the next biggest adopter, South Lanarkshire Council with 24 vehicles. With the City of Glasgow council operating 22 EVs and Fife Council 17, the top five is almost an all-Scottish affair - only the London Borough of Islington with 19 makes it into the list of leading councils. Last month, the council admitted it has plans to penalise diesel vehicles as part of a crackdown on air quality.
Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford, North Lanarkshire and Lewes District Council complete the top 10 EV-users.
According to Intelligent, councils have been attracted to EVs by low running costs and the potential to reduce their environmental impact. It expects even greater uptake as more renewable energy comes onto the grid, which should result in lower lifetime emissions than today when much of UK electricity is generated by fossil fuels.
Some of the best-performing councils are also in areas earmarked by government schemes to build-out charging infrastructure - the UK's plugged in places programme supported the installation of over 4,000 charge points across eight locations including London, North East England, Scotland, and the Midlands.
The Scottish Government attributed the high adoption rates of councils North of the border to a £17m investment in a range of low emission vehicle initatives in the past two years.
"Our investment has helped councils introduce electric vehicles into their fleet and install a network of charging points across Scotland," a Scottish Government spokeswoman said. "Through our 'Switched On Fleets' project, we are also providing a total of £2.5m to all the councils in Scotland, enabling them to analyse where more electric vehicles can be added to their fleets and act on this analysis by buying or leasing electric cars and vans.
"This work is helping us achieve our vision, as set out in Switched On Scotland: A Roadmap to Widespread Adoption of Plug-in Vehicles, of freeing Scotland's towns, cities and communities from the damaging effects of petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2050."
However, the picture is not entirely rosy. The total of 531 EVs averages to 1.23 per local authority, assuming the 21 councils who have yet to respond have no electric vehicles. And while almost 40 per cent of the 412 councils who responded have at least one electric vehicle in their fleet, this still leaves 271 who run none at all. Moreover, the figures show 57 councils have just one EV, including seven London boroughs, while just 12 operate more than nine zero emission vehicles.
Even so, Intelligent says councils' use of EVs still boasts a "very promising outlook" that "absolutely dwarfs" take-up in the private sector. "Electric vehicles are still expensive to obtain, even when taking into account government grants and incentives," the company said in a statement. "Therefore many of the local authorities across the UK are presenting themselves as real early adopters; taking up this promising technology at an early stage in its life-cycle."
This assessment echoes the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which last month declared 2014 to be "the year of the alternatively-fuelled vehicle" and tipped the market for significant growth this year as more models come onto the market.
However, the UK market is now reaching an potentially decisive point in its development moment. The government has set aside £500m for ultra-low emission vehicles in the next parliament, but company car tax rates are also due to change in April, imposing a five per cent BiK rate on cars emitting 0-50 grams of CO2 per kilometre and nine per cent on vehicles in the 51-75g/km band. Moreover, the surge in electric car uptake has been so pronounced that the next 12 months may see the government run through its £200m plug-in grant budget. Rumours suggest the next tranche of funding may offer lower incentives to plug-in hybrids, which tend to provide less than 30 miles of electric driving compared to the 80 to 100 miles offered by pure electric cars. But uncertainty over future funding levels could put the brakes on the market's impressive growth.
However, with awareness of the benefits of electric cars becoming more widespread the industry is hoping momentum can be maintained, particularly amongst those councils that are keen to electrify their fleets.
There is no doubt electric vehicles are taking off in the UK. Last year, sales of plug-in cars quadrupled to almost 14,500, of which just under half were pure battery electric vehicles rather than plug-in hybrids.
This is an astonishing figure given only around 20,000 electric cars have been registered under the government's £5,000 plug-in grant scheme since it started in January 2011. It is easy to see why manufacturers are celebrating.
Nissan has reported a 33 per cent rise in sales of its trailblazing Leaf electric car over 2014, securing a 26 per cent share of a European market that saw over 56,000 electric vehicles (EVs) purchased. Across the Renault-Nissan alliance, sales of zero emission cars grew by almost a quarter in 2014 and the group now sells around one in two electric vehicles worldwide.
What has remained less clear is the number of EVs in the public sector, a figure the government has been keen to boost by offering funding to councils and bodies such as the police and NHS to take on electric fleets.
But research by Glasgow-based Intelligent Car Leasing has determined that the number of electric vehicles in local authority fleets now stands at 531. The company compiled the figure from Freedom of Information requests to 433 councils the length and breadth of the country and armed with a 95 per cent response rate came up with some interesting results.
Dundee City Council leads the way for EV adoption with 38 vehicles following an active programme of replacing diesel pool cars with electric alternatives, while the area has over 30 public charging points, including fast-chargers. The Council was still formulating a comment as BusinessGreen went to press.
Its total is almost 60 per cent more than the next biggest adopter, South Lanarkshire Council with 24 vehicles. With the City of Glasgow council operating 22 EVs and Fife Council 17, the top five is almost an all-Scottish affair - only the London Borough of Islington with 19 makes it into the list of leading councils. Last month, the council admitted it has plans to penalise diesel vehicles as part of a crackdown on air quality.
Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford, North Lanarkshire and Lewes District Council complete the top 10 EV-users.
According to Intelligent, councils have been attracted to EVs by low running costs and the potential to reduce their environmental impact. It expects even greater uptake as more renewable energy comes onto the grid, which should result in lower lifetime emissions than today when much of UK electricity is generated by fossil fuels.
Some of the best-performing councils are also in areas earmarked by government schemes to build-out charging infrastructure - the UK's plugged in places programme supported the installation of over 4,000 charge points across eight locations including London, North East England, Scotland, and the Midlands.
The Scottish Government attributed the high adoption rates of councils North of the border to a £17m investment in a range of low emission vehicle initatives in the past two years.
"Our investment has helped councils introduce electric vehicles into their fleet and install a network of charging points across Scotland," a Scottish Government spokeswoman said. "Through our 'Switched On Fleets' project, we are also providing a total of £2.5m to all the councils in Scotland, enabling them to analyse where more electric vehicles can be added to their fleets and act on this analysis by buying or leasing electric cars and vans.
"This work is helping us achieve our vision, as set out in Switched On Scotland: A Roadmap to Widespread Adoption of Plug-in Vehicles, of freeing Scotland's towns, cities and communities from the damaging effects of petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2050."
However, the picture is not entirely rosy. The total of 531 EVs averages to 1.23 per local authority, assuming the 21 councils who have yet to respond have no electric vehicles. And while almost 40 per cent of the 412 councils who responded have at least one electric vehicle in their fleet, this still leaves 271 who run none at all. Moreover, the figures show 57 councils have just one EV, including seven London boroughs, while just 12 operate more than nine zero emission vehicles.
Even so, Intelligent says councils' use of EVs still boasts a "very promising outlook" that "absolutely dwarfs" take-up in the private sector. "Electric vehicles are still expensive to obtain, even when taking into account government grants and incentives," the company said in a statement. "Therefore many of the local authorities across the UK are presenting themselves as real early adopters; taking up this promising technology at an early stage in its life-cycle."
This assessment echoes the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which last month declared 2014 to be "the year of the alternatively-fuelled vehicle" and tipped the market for significant growth this year as more models come onto the market.
However, the UK market is now reaching an potentially decisive point in its development moment. The government has set aside £500m for ultra-low emission vehicles in the next parliament, but company car tax rates are also due to change in April, imposing a five per cent BiK rate on cars emitting 0-50 grams of CO2 per kilometre and nine per cent on vehicles in the 51-75g/km band. Moreover, the surge in electric car uptake has been so pronounced that the next 12 months may see the government run through its £200m plug-in grant budget. Rumours suggest the next tranche of funding may offer lower incentives to plug-in hybrids, which tend to provide less than 30 miles of electric driving compared to the 80 to 100 miles offered by pure electric cars. But uncertainty over future funding levels could put the brakes on the market's impressive growth.
However, with awareness of the benefits of electric cars becoming more widespread the industry is hoping momentum can be maintained, particularly amongst those councils that are keen to electrify their fleets.
