Push to electrify government fleet stalls

Government agencies are facing the prospect of having to buy carbon offsets as they predict less than half of their fleet will be electric in 2025.

Nearly 15,000 vehicles are owned by government departments and officials are struggling to electrify their fleets amid the push to decarbonise the public sector.

In response to a survey from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), 57 agencies representing 98 per cent of the government fleet report only 49 per cent of public vehicles can be electrified by the end of 2025.

The Labour/New Zealand First coalition government made a pledge in 2017 to create an emissions-free fleet, with that policy carried over into the current Labour government. 

When setting out the decarbonisation plan officials said vehicles would be replaced with electric alternatives “where practicable”, reports Newsroom. 

A cabinet paper on the progress of the fleet decarbonisation plan reveals government agencies can now choose from 19 models of battery electric vehicle (BEV) in the official procurement catalogue. They can also use car sharing.

MBIE has urged agencies to put a plan for shifting to electric vehicles in place by December 2021.

Besides electrification, a number of agencies are also set to reduce the size of their fleets over the coming years.

The cabinet paper shows the overall fleet shrunk by 1,100 vehicles in the year to July 2021, with the number of electric vehicles increasing from 108 to 260 over the same period.