Govt turns vehicle fleet deep green

The Government’s fleet of vehicles has become markedly more green in the past year and is set to get greener still in coming years.

The Government has confirmed it intends to transition its full fleet, including the 32 BMW 7-series vehicles, to emissions-free vehicles by 2026. In total, 29 per cent of ministerial vehicles — including Crown and self-drive cars — are electric vehicles (EVs). That’s up from 2 per cent this time last year.

Recently the number of EVs on our roads passed 10,000 — up from just 210 five years ago. Although a dramatic increase, it makes up just 0.25 per cent of New Zealand’s vehicle fleet.

The complete Crown fleet is made up of 72 vehicles, both owned and leased. There are 34 chauffeur-driven BMWs, more commonly referred to as Crown cars, and seven other non-BMW chauffeurdriven cars, five vans and 26 ministerial selfdrive cars.

Self-drive cars, according to the Department of Internal

Affairs (DIA), are vehicles that ministers drive.

Cabinet

Ministers — and the four outside Cabinet — have self-drive cars and 53 per cent of these are EVs.

Of the vehicles owned by DIA, 52 per cent are EVs. Across the entire fleet, whether owned or leased, 29 per cent of the vehicles were EVs, a DIA spokesman said. This time last year, about 2 per cent were EVs.

This time next year, the Crown car fleet could be a whole lot greener.

“The department’s contract with BMW expires in October 2019 and later this year ourselves, along with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, will return to market to replace the Crown limousine fleet,” the DIA spokesman said.

Chris Hipkins, the Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services, said EVs offered potentially vast benefits to our environment and back pocket.

“The Government is playing a leadership role and it intends to transition its full fleet including the 32 BMW 7-series vehicles to emissions free vehicles by 2026,” he said.

Not all individual vehicles in the next few years, however, would be emissions-free because that would not be practical: “For example, if longdistance travel is needed, it’s currently not practical to use an emissions-free vehicle due to the lack of charging stations in remote areas.”