The City is
rapidly increasing its uptake of hybrid electric vehicles, as it moves to
reduce fleet costs and limit carbon emissions.
There are currently
five hybrid electric / petrol-powered cars in our fleet, made up of four Toyota
Camrys and one Toyota Corolla.
We have placed
orders for a further 19 hybrid Toyotas, which will replace existing similar
model petrol / diesel-fuelled vehicles.
The purchases
are part of a staged transition of our fleet, with the aim of adding electric
vehicles (EV) in the future.
As part of this
program, the City is investing in the necessary infrastructure to support the
expected community uptake in EVs.
Electric vehicle charging stations have been installed at Cunningham Pier in Geelong, the
Leopold Community Hub and the Armstrong Creek East Hub.
The design of
new Council-owned buildings, such as the innovative and sustainable new Civic Precinct in Mercer Street, will include EV charging stations.
We strongly
encourage any new large privately-owned commercial and residential buildings in
Greater Geelong to provide dedicated EV charging infrastructure.
This
requirement is included in the City’s Environmentally Sustainable Design
policy, which was finalised in September 2019.
The commitment
to transition our vehicle fleet forms part of our Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy, which was endorsed in April 2017.
We reduced
emissions from street lights, buildings and our vehicle fleet by seven per cent
to June 2019, compared to 2014-15 levels.
This will be
lifted to an estimated 65 per cent next year, when the City sources all of its electricity needs through renewable energy.
Through a
nation-leading collective buying agreement with almost 50 other Victorian
councils, we expect to have renewable energy contracts in place by the end of
2020.
The renewable
energy will be used to power municipal offices, leisure centres, streetlights
and community buildings.
This would help us meet the Zero Carbon Emission
Strategy’s goal of delivering a 50 per cent reduction in emissions from our
buildings and vehicle fleet by 2020.
We are also
pursuing a plan to replace our 20,000-plus existing streetlights with energy-efficient
LED lighting, which when implemented would further reduce emissions and
minimise costs.
Director City Services Guy Wilson-Browne
Our investment
in electric hybrid vehicles and associated infrastructure will help us cut our
own carbon emissions and encourage others to reduce their own environmental
footprint.Along with our
continued rollout of rooftop solar systems on City buildings, these initiatives
demonstrate our ongoing effort to address the impacts of climate change.Connecting
Greater Geelong to the national electric vehicle charging station network is an
important step towards meeting our community’s Clever and Creative vision.
