Government details plan to electrify its car fleet… but PM's V8 Range Rover will stay
Even though 30,000 Government vehicles must be zero-emissions by 2027, PM’s armoured SUV is not one of them
New details have been published on the Government’s pledge to electrify its fleet of 30,000 vehicles across the UK – including some notable exemptions such as the Prime Minister’s armoured ministerial limo.
In a plan called ‘Decarbonising Transport, A Better Greener Britain’ first published in 2021, the Department for Transport set out an ambition for 100 per cent of the central government car and van fleet to be fully zero-emissions by 2027.
New guidance just published by the DfT reveals that its zero-emissions commitment will apply to all central government departments and so-called ‘arms length bodies’. That includes executive agencies, non-ministerial departments and bodies mainly controlled and financed by Government departments. Vehicles affected include all cars and vans operated by included organisations, even those that are hired for six days or more.
The DfT says the Government has a combined fleet of more than 30,000 vehicles, making it one of the largest owner-operated fleets in the UK. However, not all the vehicles it operates fall within the scope of the ban on internal combustion engines, which is now just two years away.
Sir Keir Starmer gets a waiver for his high-profile prime ministerial cars – including the £400,000 Range Rover ‘Sentinel’ with its beefy 5.0-litre V8 engine – as all armoured vehicles are exempted. It’s an understandable policy, given the difficulties the vehicle conversion sector is having with the lack of Government regulations around EV modifications, on top of the practical difficulties of bomb-proofing a big battery.
Other exemptions to the Government’s self-imposed 2027 ban – which falls a few years ahead of the wider ZEV Mandate ban on pure ICE sales in 2030, and even further ahead of the hybrid-ICE ban set for 2035 – include emergency response vehicles with blue lights and vehicles not used for road transport.
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