Plant and Fleet

Council has a lot of roads, bridges, fields and open space to maintain. This requires a range of gardening equipment, cleaning equipment, mowers, utility vehicles and heavy vehicles which all contribute to Council’s greenhouse gas emissions.

In the year 2022/23 Council’s plant and fleet accounted for 41% of Council’s tracked emissions. Council is taking steps to reduce this, including looking at opportunities to transition parts of its plant and fleet to electric.

Starting with small plant and equipment, such as chainsaws and line trimmers, Council has begun to transition to electric models. Whenever a piece of small plant or equipment reaches the end of it life and a new one needs to be purchased, Council conducts a side-by-side analysis and favours the electric model where it is fit for purpose and represents value for money.

Council has also been investigating options for transitioning its fleet of ride on mowers. Field staff have already attended demonstrations and conducted testing on electric zero turn mowers and were generally satisfied with this quieter, no tail-pipe emissions option.

Council is also looking into charging infrastructure and electric vehicle options for its pool vehicles. Watch this space!