Council turns over new Leaf

Dunedin City Council will be the latest government branch to sprout a few Leafs.

Councillors have approved a plan to migrate part of the council’s fleet from petrol power to electricity over the next five years, reports the Otago Daily Times.

It estimated that 17% of its vehicles will be fully-electric within that time.

In-house analysis discovered that plug-in EVs would have a 21c per kilometre cost over their five-year life cycle with the DCC. The current fleet costs between 22c and 24c per kilometre.

It would replace around 20 vehicles with EVs as current vehicles in the fleet ticked over their five-year tenure.

Mayor Dave Cull said he was “fully supportive” of the move, saying he wished the council had flicked the switch sooner.

“It’s great to be in a position where doing the right thing is also doing the best thing financially,” said Cull. “It’s like divesting from fossil-fuel extraction.’’

All council members supported the move, except councillor Andrew Whiley, who abstained.

“I like the intention of this, but I’m not going to support it,” he said.

He had concerns about the proposed replacement with Nissan Leafs – and about “where things were going” in terms of electric car use.

Another councillor Richard Thomson had no such reservations, retorting: “To the question of where it’s all going? This is where it’s going.”