Failure to meet deadline for electric cars may have silver lining for South Ayrshire Council

dailyrecord.co.uk:

There may be a silver lining as a result of South Ayrshire Council failing to meet a target date for cutting its vehicle carbon emissions.Kenneth Dalrymple, the council's Assistant Director of Housing and Operations, explained how the authority would not be able to meet the Scottish Government’s 2025 target for smaller fleets to be Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV).Councillor Philip Saxton, chair of the Services and Partnerships Performance Panel, raised his concerns that the council could invest in electric vehicles and infrastructure, only to see it superseded by alternatives, such as hydrogen.Mr Dalrymple agreed, suggesting that the inability to meet the 2025 deadline could actually provide an opportunity to see whether any alternatives became viable.He said: “Sometimes we like to be first, but sometimes it is better to wait on other people testing the technology.

We can see where things are going further down the line.“I think we might change from electric going forward. It might be part of the answer but I don’t think it is the full answer.

Other types of technology could come in.”He highlighted the even greater challenge when it comes to larger vehicles as well as the being able to maintain schedules given charging takes considerably longer than simply filling a fuel tank.He said: “Electric [for larger vehicles] at this point in time isn’t an option for what we do as we double shift our vehicles.“We are probably looking at different technology such as hydrogen.

That will be a huge capital cost and is something we need to start transitioning to before 2030.”Mr Dalrymple provided an example where South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership required to renew six of its vehicles.He explained; “These vehicles are