Why are only 11 of eco-warrior Nicola’s 200 cars electric?
AS part of their green crusade, ministers want to get every motorist to give up their conventional cars and drive electric vehicles instead.
But critics have accused the Scottish Government of failing to ‘practise what it preaches’ after it emerged that it only owns 11 electric cars.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Daily Mail show diesel cars remain the vehicle of choice for civil servants and ministers, despite trying to ban most of them from some town centres under plans for ‘low emission zones’.
Although the Government is introducing a target to phase out all diesel and petrol vehicles within 14 years, the figures indicate it has been slow to act.
Of 199 vehicles in its fleet, only 11 – or 5.5 per cent – are electric, while 141 are diesel, 17 are petrol and 30 are hybrids.
There is not a single electric vehicle in the fleet of 24 luxury cars in the Governthey ment Car Service (GCS) which transports ministers around the country.
Maurice Golden, environment spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘The SNP should practise what it preaches, and if the Scottish Government Car Service hasn’t got a single electric vehicle, they cannot expect households across Scotland to. The SNP have set an unrealistic timetable for Scotland to switch to electric vehicles with no idea how to meet it, simply for the sake of being different from the rest of the United Kingdom.
‘In contrast, the UK Government is sensibly taking a gradual approach to introducing electric vehicles – one which considers practicality, affordability and environmental benefit.’
Mr Golden added: ‘If the SNP care about any of those things, should adopt a similar approach.’
In her Programme for Government earlier this month, Nicola Sturgeon unveiled £17million of new funding to increase the use of electric vehicles.
It will primarily be spent on the creation of 1,500 electric vehicle charging points in homes, businesses and public spaces, at a cost of £15million, while £1.7 million will buy 100 ‘green’ buses and the public sector will be encouraged to switch to electric.
But the Government has disclosed that there has been little take-up in its own fleet. The communications, ministerial support and facilities department has five electric vehicles, compared to four for Transport Scotland, and one each for agriculture and rural economy and digital departments. In the GCS there are 16 diesel vehicles, six hybrids, two petrol and no electric.
Neil Greig, director of policy and research at IAM RoadSmart, said: ‘It shows it is very difficult to switch to electric. You have a government that publicly wants this to happen but is finding it difficult to do it themselves.
‘We think the Government and public sector, including the NHS, councils and the emergency services, can do this quicker than most organisations because they can just build it into their procurement strategies and can kickstart the market.
‘So it is important that the big public sector fleets move quickly to encourage others to do so.’
Official figures indicate that electric vehicles form a tiny proportion of the Scots car market.
There were 137,000 new registrations of diesel vehicles north of the Border in 2016, a slight reduction on 137,700 the previous year. But diesel was still more popular than petrol, which had 128,300 new registrations. Electric vehicles trailed well behind, with only 1,500 new registrations.
The Scottish Government said it plans to increase the number of electric vehicles in its fleet.
A spokesman added: ‘We are leading by example on tackling climate change by replacing fossil-fuelled vehicles with plug-in vehicles where appropriate.
‘We evaluate technologies to assess their operational suitability for use within the GCS and wider Scottish Government fleet.
‘During the current year we intend to increase the number of ultra-low emitting vehicles (ULEV) by a further 14. This includes six ULEVs for GCS.’
‘SNP should practise what it preaches’