The Auckland Council is making big steps to improve its fleet efficiency as a part of a new reshuffling plan for 2018.
With a current fleet size of 822, the council will sell 16 vehicles by the end of June this year for an estimated $247,000.
The council will also avoid purchasing 13 new vehicles through the redeployment of existing fleet vehicles, resulting in a further $325,000 in savings.
Auckland Council general manager procurement Jazz Singh said the efficiency plan was an effort to ensure value for money for ratepayers.
“Increasing the use of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles will reduce the carbon impact of council’s fleet on the environment,” he said.
A new reallocation policy will result in council’s general vehicle pool nearly doubling in size from 116 vehicles to 224, however, the exact number is yet to be finalised.
Singh said that the money saved through the plan would be used to install electric vehicle infrastructure, to replace other vehicles, and for other fleet-related costs.
As part of the plan, all fleet vehicles will be monitored every six months for the possibility of disposal or reallocation.
“Where appropriate, the council will continue to replace current vehicles with either electric or hybrids versions within the normal renewal timeframes,” he said.
The council has pledged to replace 50 cars with electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids over the next three years, which follows a purchase of 20 Hyundai Ioniq EVs to their fleet in late January.
However, Singh said that any chance of the council moving to a fully electric fleet was not yet possible given the limited variety of EV’s currently available on the market.
