The Highland Council is investing in decarbonisation. It understands that investing sooner will avoid higher costs in the future. The council has changed its mindset around vehicle procurement, making EVs the default choice for cars and light vans where suitable.  

The council is also going through a programme of fleet rationalisation, reducing the fleet by around 20%. It has installed tracking in vehicles to reduce idling and harsh driving and increase efficient driving. It is developing staff training to ease concerns over single charge range and assess the usability of EVs. Highland has an EV-first mindset, with vehicle demonstrations and an evolving fleet.  

Over a third of Falkirk Council’s fleet vehicles are EVs, including an almost all-electric pool car system. The council focused on adopting the Scottish Government 2025 target early, moving to an EV-first procurement setup. It only procures diesel or petrol vehicles if EVs aren’t currently suitable. 

Falkirk had set aside a large fund for climate change. It used this to procure EVs, which are now saving on fuel costs. The initial focus was on easy-to-transition vehicles, such as cars and small vans, but Falkirk is also tackling the larger emitters such as large vans.  

42% of Nottingham City Council’s fleet is electric, including minibuses, bin lorries and sweepers. Nottingham has set up an internal service centre for ultra low emissions vehicles (ULEVs) – Nottingham Electric Vehicle Services. The service maintains and repairs the council’s fleet, as well as other local fleets and EVs owned by the public.  

Nottingham has established a public sector ULEVs procurement framework, to guide other local authorities through the process. This includes guidance on charging infrastructure and vehicle capability.  

Much of the funding for the fleet has come from the council’s resources. Nottingham has also implemented a pioneering workplace parking levy on employers who provide parking spaces for employees, with some rules and exemptions. The money raised from this is ring-fenced for public transport.  

Leeds City Council aims to procure only ULEVs by 2030. It already has an extensive EV fleet, as well as charging infrastructure at depot locations and employees’ homes.  

Leeds has established EVs as the default option for procurement and overhauled the procurement setup from individual services to a whole fleet level. Buy-in from the executive leadership team was vital, with the director of resources responsible for fleet purchases.  

The council has invested over £7.5 million into fleet electrification, largely funded by its resources and budgeting. Leeds has received some funding, mainly for chargepoint installation. However, most of the funding it has received is focused on public charging infrastructure, not fleet or depot services.