New research from fleet telematics company Geotab has shown that 20% of UK local authorities haven’t even startedtheir transition to an electric fleet. This is despite government incentives
and grant funding to support the changeover.

When a council makes a move towards somethinglike this, from better pay for their staff to the EV revolution, local companies follow - this is a case of councils not leading their areas by example.

Geotab sent Freedom of Information requests outto 113 local authorities around the UK, 10 each from eight regions and all London boroughs. It complied the data and extrapolated across the country. From this the research showed:

• Just four local authoritieshave fleets comprising of more than 20% electric vehicles

• 54% have fewer than 50 chargersincluding public, home and depot chargers

• 46% had yet to set a date whenthey expect to have a fleet of 100% electric vehicles

Government grants are out there that pay foramongst other things, charging equipment. This is big enough to exceed the fewer than 50 chargers had by the 54% of local authorities, and there is also support in buying the EVs themselves.

One clear example is the company cartax scheme - officers can get an EV cheaplyas a company car for example, and a Dorset Council officer is hardly going to be driving to Edinburgh three times a month on business!

Older Generation Councillors?

There is a saying that the older you get, thewider your waistline grows and the narrower your mind becomes. Given a high proportion of councillors in the UK tend to be older (and of narrower mind) this may well be the reason we are seeing such reticence to take the ‘free
money’ from central government and to get on with the transition to fully electric vehicle fleets.

Watching certain councils (we won’t name names)there tends to be a ‘family network’ that allows somewhat surprising decisions to be made that don’t always follow transparent and logical decision making processes. A company with no financial resources to complete a contract may be awarded it for example - not unlike Chris Grayling awarding a UK - EU ferry contract to a company without any ships!

Given such old ways of governance, it is reallyquite unsurprising that confronted with a big new world of transport, the wide waisted, narrow minded decision makers in our towns and counties aren’t doing well in the EV Revolution!