A £ 1 million fleet of brand new electric cars was left in parking lots by a council that claimed the vehicles would help fight climate change.
South Lanarkshire Council has blamed the pandemic for keeping most of the 141 state-of-the-art cars bought with public money idle.
Last September, the municipality, one of the largest in Scotland, took over the Renault Zoes flagship fleet under a three-year lease.
But a year later they hardly turned a wheel.
Renault describes the lively little Zoe as the first “real” electric car
We found rows and rows of still EVs (fully electric cars) stored in three municipal parking garages in Hamilton, with the vehicles neatly arranged in alphabetical order of license plates as if they had come from a car carrier.
A third of them were lined up on the top floor of a parking lot on Duke Street and exposed to the elements.
Each green and white Zoe has an “I am electric to help make South Lanarkshire Sustainable” paint on the side and many still have protective covers inside.
One whistleblower said: “You promised that this new fleet would reduce the council’s emissions.
“And they were right because nobody used them.
“They have just been dumped in parking lots and most of them are not used at all.
“More than 40 of them are on the top floor of the Duke Street parking garage and obviously have never moved.
“It looks like some kind of open-air showroom for electric cars up there.
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“The council doesn’t really know what to do with them, as you seldom see a council worker in you.
“What a total waste of money to go green but fail miserably in Cop 26 just a few weeks before the venue for the world’s largest climate conference in the world.
“Electric cars are the future and councils need to adjust their fleets, but South Lanarkshire got this deal at the height of the pandemic, which apparently was utter madness.”
The council was able to inject the money after receiving a £ 1 million grant from the Scottish government Quango Transport Scotland.
The cars, which can travel around 200 miles without charging depending on speed, can cost more than £ 32,000 to buy in a showroom.
French auto giant Renault said it was its largest electric vehicle order in Scotland when it was delivered last September.
(Image: Getty Images)
The then Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity for the Scottish Government, Michael Matheson, said it was “the largest contract of its kind in Scotland” and would “improve air quality, reduce emissions and help respond to the climate emergency”.
South Lanarkshire said they would be used to transport workers in the council’s 20 counties and beyond.
At the time, the chairman of the council’s community and corporate resources committee, Councilor John Anderson, said he was “pleased” with the deal.
He said it would “help us on our way to reduce the amount of emissions from our entire fleet” and “help combat climate change”.
He also claimed that employees who had used the vehicles “praised how far they can go on a single charge”.
But within months of receiving the order, the council scaled back plans for electric charging stations across the region.
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Working with Transport Scotland and the North Lanarkshire Council, it announced 110 EV points but installed only 19 hubs with 64 charging points.
The whistleblower added, “After spending £ 1 million on the deal, the council withdrew the number of outlets installed in the area.
“So it should come as no surprise that it is becoming difficult to get your employees to use the vehicles.”
The regional MSP for the region and Scottish Labor Net Zero, Energy and Transport spokeswoman Monica Lennon accused the council of incompetence.
She said, “It seems really incompetent that so many cars are sitting around and not being used.
“I hear from people in the area, including council workers, that there is a lack of infrastructure to support electric vehicles, including charging stations.
“It seems wasteful to spend so much public money at the height of the pandemic.
“A shift towards electric vehicles is welcome, but not at any price.
“My constituents have already expressed concern about the cuts in public transport in South Lanarkshire that make you wonder if the money should be better spent.”
(Image: Lanarkshire Live)
She added: “As Greta Thunberg said, Scotland is far from being the world leader in tackling climate change.
“When the world’s gaze falls on us for Cop26, it is an embarrassing revelation.
“We not only need to see our public authorities as taking action, they also do it.”
Scottish Green MSP for Central Scotland Gillian Mackay said plans to make the council greener backfired.
She added: “The South Lanarkshire Council needs some greens because the difference between spending and intent is everywhere here.
“The truth is that electric cars that are idle are not helping the planet.
“What we need to see is planning that puts public transport and active travel first so communities can benefit.”
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Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay
(Image: Fraser Bremner / Scottish Daily Mail / PA)
Dr. Richard Dixon of Friends of the Earth Scotland said: “The public sector needs to lead by example in the fight against climate emissions.
“It’s great that South Lanarkshire has invested so much in electric cars, but it’s very frustrating that they haven’t been used in the last year.
“We have to make electric cars a normal part of everyday life, and that means they have to be visible on our streets and the charging network has to be extensive enough that people can be sure they can own or rent an electric car. “. The Council had the right idea on both points, but the reality falls far short of what was promised. “
When we asked the council about the unused fleet of electric vehicles, they blamed Covid.
Shirley Clelland, Director of Fleet and Environmental Services, said: “In the months leading up to the pandemic outbreak, South Lanarkshire Council placed an order for 141 EV Renault Zoe to replace our existing diesel and gasoline vehicles.
“These vehicles were delivered under contract last year when the pandemic began to hit us all.
“Many of them have provided vital transportation for vital frontline services for the past year and a half.
“The public health measures put in place to combat the pandemic have resulted in a dramatic decline in vehicle use.
“The use of pool cars is now increasing again.
“The new electric fleet will help to drastically reduce CO2 emissions and fuel costs.”
A spokesman for Transport Scotland, which funded the cars, said: “This is a South Lanarkshire Council matter.”
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