Funding of £1 million has allowed South Lanarkshire Council to quadruple its fleet of electric cars.
In total, 141 new Renault Zoes will be introduced to the council’s fleet thanks to the grant from Transport Scotland’s Switched on Fleets Fund.
All of the council’s pool cars will now be replaced by 104 of the new cars while the other 37 Zoes will be specifically used by different council departments including roads and housing.
Some of the Zoes have already been delivered but delays due to the coronavirus lockdown mean the order - the largest of its kind by a Scottish local authority - won’t be completed until December.
Each Zoe will be leased for three years and, instead of the usual corporate branding, they will sport a green and white ‘I am electric to help make South Lanarkshire sustainable’ livery.
The Zoes can travel around 240 miles between charges meaning they can be charged weekly rather than daily, allowing for greater flexibility in use.
Once delivered, the percentage of the council’s small fleet vehicles which aren’t powered by fossil fuels will increase from six per cent to 28 per cent.
Carbon management officer Julie Richmond told councillors at the first meeting of the new climate change and sustainability committee on Thursday, September 17, that SLC had been “very successful” in securing Switched on Fleets funding.
Ms Richmond said the council had “secured enough funding for 24 [electric] cars” in 2019-20 in advance of Scottish Government requirements to phase out the use of fossil fuel powered cars from the public sector fleet by 2025.
She added that further “funding for 2020-21 for 30 to 35 small vans” had been accepted which will mean “34 per cent of the fleet will be electric”.
That grant of £337,000 includes £90,000 to install nine new charging points across the council’s estate.
Councillor Joe Fagan (East Kilbride Central North), leader of the Labour group, praised the council for “its good record when it comes to electric vehicles”.
However, he compared the choice between electric and hydrogen power with the choice between “VHS and Betamax” and encouraged the council to look at developments in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as Smart Sustainable East Kilbride’s (SSEK) ambition to create a “West of Scotland hub for hydrogen in East Kilbride”.
Director of community and enterprise, Michael McGlynn said the council “continues to work with SSEK and Strathclyde University” before adding that the hydrogen sector, like electric-powered vehicles, would require “public sector support” to become economically viable.
