Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-01-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of buses, taxis, and other public transport road vehicles are wholly electrically powered.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We do not have detailed numbers on the information requested.
According to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) statistics some 133 public transport buses, coaches and minibuses are wholly electrically powered. There are no purpose built electric taxis recorded on the DVLA records, although electric cars are used as minicabs and private hire vehicles, and a number of plug-in hybrid purpose built taxis are in development.
This Government has a comprehensive £600 million package of measures over the course of this parliament to keep Britain at the forefront of the ultra-low emission vehicle technology. This includes grants encouraging low emission buses and taxis.
The proportion of wholly electric vehicles operated by central Government is not recorded by the DVLA. However, the total number of central government electric vehicles that have been purchased via the Crown Commercial Service framework is 20. Just over 300 ultra-low emission vehicles are being integrated into public sector fleets under the ULEV readiness project; with over 70% being fully electric.
