Who’s buying electric cars in the city?

I WAS interested to read of Dundee almost doubling the sale of purely electric vehicles from 16 in 2016 to 31 in 2017.

Out of interest can the council advise how many of these 31 were council/co-wheels car club/taxi/private hire purchases?

Depending on the breakdown it may be a little disingenuous to suggest these figures vindicate early investment by the council in car charging infrastructure if they turn out to be in the main either council purchases or those forced by the council on new private hire operators.

Whilst there was an suggestion range may not be a fear factor I suspect cost is.

At around £26,000 for the cheapest purchase of an electric supermini — and two thirds of that likely to be lost off the value of the vehicle in year one, more if you don’t own the battery which typically is leased at around £70 per month — versus £10,500 to £11,500 for a similar petrol-based car and nothing like the same depreciation, I doubt very much these vehicles are being purchased in any great numbers by private individuals.

On the assumption the council maintains total cost of ownership information as part of their fleet management, can they advise the total cost of ownership of one of their electric vehicles versus a similar sized petrol vehicle?

Ia Fraser.