MAYORAL MINUTE - ELECTRIC FLEET VEHICLES
In this Mayoral Minute by Mayor Regan asks for a report by the end of the year on the options available or an electric Council car fleet as car manufacturers are releasing electric cars that can travel more mileage than before. As fuel prices rise, this alternative may be a viable option.
BACKGROUND
A recent report in the national media stated that up to seven models of full electric vehicles will be available from early 2019.
Rising fuel prices and servicing costs will continue to impact on the costs of maintaining Council’s fleet and so Council has the opportunity to look to procuring full electric vehicles to ensure that the costs of maintaining our fleet can be kept to the minimum.
I understand some manufacturers are keen to negotiate with organisations who maintain fleet vehicles to establish ‘early adopters’ to drive demand for the vehicles up in the market and bring the pricing down. Many councillors would be aware, there have been many urban renewal experts over recent years that have highlighted the need for public carparks, in particular to have appropriate infrastructure for electric cars, electric bikes and scooters.
The Federal Government and some State Governments have now started rolling out the vital infrastructure required to ensure electric vehicles can cover long distances on our nation’s highways. Council has an important role to play in providing more adequate facilities within our own community and to lead by example by moving to full electric vehicles.
Council has a variety of light fleet vehicles with diverse uses for library services, children services and our rangers for example so combined with the spiraling cost of fuel and our desire to be a leader in the community on lower emissions, I believe it makes sense to pursue full electric vehicle options. We need to proactively engage with the manufacturers early and test the market to see what advantages there are to evolving our fleet into a more balanced one with less reliance on now high cost fossil fuels and minimum ongoing service costs.
Council would need to consider the full business case and impacts but with the range of full electric sedans and SUVs now beyond 400kms on one charge, potentially zero servicing costs; it may well be time to consider a bulk purchase of fleet for different users. There are many options to consider including encouraging staff that have private use scheme vehicles to look at the full electric vehicle options.
https://www.caradvice.com.au/618789/ev-onslaught-10-electric-cars-coming-by-2021/ https://myelectriccar.com.au/evs-soon-in-australia/
I understand investigation into this proposal and the preparation of a report to Council by the end of the year is possible within existing resources.
