York Council allocated about £8 million into a procurement initiative for 25 new electric bin wagons to replace its diesel trucks, per VNEXPLORER.
Now, a councilor claims the Council chiefs purposely hide the multi-million-pound electric trucks due to a lack of charging infrastructures.
“There are 25 vehicles out of what’s arrived that haven’t been used yet and are just hidden away because they’re an embarrassment. Basically, they’ve got nowhere to charge them. They’re behind with installing the charging infrastructure…but because they’d already procured the electric vehicles, they’re obviously having to accept them.”
Councilor Mark Warters
“Farcical” and “embarrassment”
Independent councilor Mark Warters defined the procurement initiative as “farcical” and an “embarrassment.” The new electric trucks are reportedly idling in a tarmacked storage yard since they cannot be charged.
Meanwhile, Council chiefs still deny the allegations that the project has just wasted people’s taxes, as the fleet has still not been used until now.
Warters also raised his concern about the management of the electric fleet.
“You would have thought there would be satisfactory due diligence carried out before you engage in a project to turn a local authority fleet over from diesel to electric. The wider side of this is, even when they get chargers in place, how do you manage a fleet when there are council workers that will start at ridiculous hours… 5am in the morning? It’s always been accepted practice that those people take vehicles home with them. So they’re already questioning how that system would work.”
Councilor Mark Warters
Nonetheless, the Council explains that early procurement is ideal to avoid rising inflation costs. That said, the development of the charging infrastructures is behind schedule, which is problematic.
Undoubtedly, charging infrastructures are essential for the adoption of electric vehicles. Similar to what happened with the York Council, the EVs will not be sufficiently powered without them. Having said that, this government effort is poorly executed and may seriously waste taxpayer money.
