A huge new study conducted by intelligentcarleasing.com comparing every single local authority in the UK for their use of electric vehicles has been released. In the last quarter of 2014 a total of 433 individual councils were surveyed via freedom of information requests, each being asked how many purely electric cars they own, lease or manage.
Electric vehicles are surging in popularity year on year; 2014 alone saw a massive 166.6% increase in pure EV registrations . The government is doing its bit as well to spark interest in the battery operated vehicle market; by offering special discount grants on electric cars and vans . With national statistics showing an increase in the uptake of EVs, Intelligent Car Leasing was curious to see what adoption levels in the public sector are like.
After a lot of sorting and comparing the results have finally been published; giving an electrifying account of which councils are hooked up and which aren’t. You can visit the following URL to see the published results and search an interactive database for any individual council’s response.
Key Facts
• Interestingly when looking at the top 5 councils for the number of electric vehicles they use 80% are located in Scotland. This could be a sign that local authorities north of the border are taking a more proactive approach to adopting this zero-emission form of fleet car. It could also tie in with the Scottish government’s green initiative to have 100% of electricity demand met via renewable sources by 2020.
• The UK’s picture overall is also very encouraging. Out of all councils who have responded to date (>95% of those surveyed) over 1 in 3 has at least one electric vehicle within their fleet.
• When all responses for the number of electric vehicles used are aggregated, the total comes to 531 EVs. When dividing this by the total number of councils in the UK it equates to an average of 1.23 EVs per local authority.
The 10 councils with the highest number of EVs are as follows:
| Council | Total # of EVs |
| 1. Dundee City Council | 38 |
| 2. South Lanarkshire Council | 24 |
| 3. City of Glasgow Council | 22 |
| 4. London Borough of Islington | 19 |
| 5. Fife Council | 17 |
| 6. Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council | 16 |
| 7. Newcastle upon Tyne City Council | 16 |
| 8. Oxford City Council | 14 |
| 9. North Lanarkshire Council | 14 |
| 10. Lewes District Council | 12 |
Pete McAllister who conducted the study commented: “With 1 in 3 local councils adopting electric vehicles on some level it paints an encouraging picture. I think as electricity production in the UK becomes more fuelled by renewables the number of councils adopting electric powered transport will vastly increase.”
