Electric vehicles shocker

A FLEET of mini-executive electric cars which sparked controversy after arriving as pool vehicles for Angus Council have covered just 350 miles in nearly four months.

The authority took delivery of the four Transport Scotland-provided BMW i3s – with a combined value of about £130,000 – in March.

The cash-strapped authority came under fire over its choice of the prestige £34,000 cars but delivered a robust defence of the acquisition.

It said the cars had been provided by Transport Scotland and were the most “cost-effective” option under a tightly-controlled procurement process.

It has now emerged two of the BMWs have covered only 20 miles each since March, with another of the council’s electric fleet, a Nissan Leaf, travelling just five miles since the end of April.

Council bosses have blamed “other priorities” on the roll-out of the cars and say they hope to see mileages increase on the electric vehicle (EV) fleet.

Figures provided by the authority have revealed 10 new EVs have covered less than 1,500 miles.

A council spokesman said: “All 10 pool cars are available to our staff and are now being used during the course of staff business.

“We hope that our staff will increasingly use these electric cars instead of their own vehicles for business travel. This saves the council money in terms of travelling expenses and is better for the environment.” TEMPER AT U R ES cou ld soar as high as 25C in Dundee in the coming days as a heatwave hits parts of the country.

Warm air is moving up from the Continent, with temperatures expected to rise as a result.

A Met Office spokeswoman has said there is potential for temperatures to hit the mid-20s in Tayside today.

She said: “Warm air moving up from France and Spain has already affected England and will settle over Dundee today.

“Temperatures in the area will continue to rise and there’s a slight chance they could reach as high as 25C for a period.”

However, the main concentration of the hot weather will be in central and south-eastern England with Londoners basking in sunshine as temperatures peak at 35C.

In Tayside, the sunshine will be short-lived, with thunderstorms expected overnight.

Dundonians will be hoping these thundery downpours don’t cause the same problems as the ones seen at the end of June.