Appeal of electric vehicles falls f lat for SNP ministers
SClTTISe ministers are being driven across the country in gas-guzzling cars despite the SNP’s relentless drive to force Scots motorists to go green.
New figures show none of the 22- strong ministerial fleet is electric, despite lavish spending on a green motoring revolution including £6.Tmillion on installing charging points.
The figures also show that just four of the 20V- strong Scottish dovernment car fleet are electric, meaning the SNP’s own departments are set to miss the party’s stringent green targets.
The dovernment has admitted that electric cars are not suitable for longer journeys, which will all continue to be made in conventional vehicles.
jinisters are spending £NQmillion of taxpayers’ money on green transport measures including introducing rapid chargers at PRmile intervals along Scotland’s trunk road network.
_ut there were claims of ‘hypocrisy’ yesterday after the facts about vehicle use by ministers were revealed in a parliamentary answer which also showed only four electric car power points have been installed in government buildings across Scotland.
jore than £6million has already been spent on i nstalling R00 charging points, mainly across the Central _elt, as part of the £ NQmillion electric motoring initiative.
eolyrood has i nstalled two charging points in parliamentary car parks, while only 6R members of the public have taken up the option of a charging point at home.
The low take-up comes despite a Scottish dovernment target to get all of Scotland driving electric cars by 20R0, and to have workers in Scotland’s councils and the health service driving petrol-free by 2020.
It is not known how many cars will need to be replaced but motoring groups have expressed their doubts that it can be done.
blectric cars have come under fire for being inefficient and hopeless for long-distance travel. The Peugeot iln, named electric car of the year by Scottish motoring writers last year, needs six hours on a domestic charger to ‘fill up’ and can cover only VP miles before needing to be recharged.
vet the despite the impracticality, the Scottish dovernment plans to spend more millions on electric cars and the provision of NT0 new charging points in the coming year in streets, workplaces, car parks and at leisure centres.
jore than £NQmillion will be spent in the next two years on replacing the Scottish dovernment’s f l eet of petrol and
‘This is do as I say, not as I do’
diesel vehicles with electric alternatives.
bventually, the SNP wants petrol and diesel cars banned from Scots towns and cities under a £N0billion green scheme.
In a bid to cut pollution, SNP ministers have announced a pilot project to speed up the switch to electric-power vehicles, setting draconian targets to force all Scotland’s 2.Tmillion motorists to switch from petrol and diesel cars to ‘green’ power by 20R0 – with grants of up to £ R, 000 towards the purchase of an electric car, or up to £U,000 for an electric van.
The rh dovernment has provided £2.2Rmillion for charging points in Scotland, despite only P2 Scots owning a fully electric car. _ut south of the _order the aepartment of Transport has axed a national network of V00 charging points as ‘ underutilised’ and ‘uneconomic’.
ln the failure of SNP ministers to use electric cars, Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Alex Johnstone said: ‘This is more rank hypocrisy from a Scottish dovernment, desperate to foist green initiatives on everyone but themselves.’
Scottish Liberal aemocrat transport spokesman Tavish Scott said: ‘This is classic “do as I say, not as I do” stuff from the SNP.’
Scottish Labour’s f i nance spokesman Iain dray added: ‘then Alex Salmond became cirst jinister, the first thing he did was order a bigger car.’
A Scottish dovernment spokesman said: ‘The Scottish dovernment’s priority is to continually deliver the best value for taxpayers while ensuring our car fleet is environmentally sustainable.’