Under the Queensland Department of Energy and Public Works, QFleet manages the procurement and maintenance of state vehicles. Now, QFleet is eager to go electric.
The QFleet Electric Vehicle Transition Strategy commits QFleet to doubling the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in its fleet annually for four years, reaching at least 144 by December 2021 and 288 by December 2022. On 5 November 2021, there were 122 EVs active in the QFleet fleet — 80 battery electric; 37 plug-in hybrid electric; and 5 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). This is 4.06% of the eligible fleet.
Chart courtesy of Queensland Government
QFleet has 10,390 vehicles — including passenger cars, SUVs, light commercial vehicles, trucks, and buses — in its statewide fleet. About 3,000 of these are suitable to be replaced by an EV when their lease arrangements expire, but there are no alternatives available in the Australian market at this time to transition the remaining vehicle types to EV.
With an additional 50 EVs on order, QFleet has a current total of 165 EVs, well exceeding this year’s target of 144. All EVs that become available on the Australian market are considered by QFleet and evaluated to ensure they are fit-for-purpose. Manufacturers and makes of EVs in the government fleet include the Hyundai Kona, Nissan Leaf, MG ZS, Tesla, Hyundai Ioniq, Kia Niro, Mitsubishi Outlander, and Hyundai Nexo. These vehicles are offered for sale via public auction at the end of their lease, supporting the broader uptake of EVs in the private market.
QFleet does not track usage patterns, but the vehicles are used for a wide variety of purposes, including by frontline health workers, educators, site and project supervisors, and administrative staff.
The three ministerial EVs are all Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus, with the ministers having posted on their social media about the vehicles — ministers de Brenni, Scanlon, and Bailey (of the Labour Party, similar to Democrats in the USA).
EVs currently in use are:
More information is here.
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Electrifying Industrial Heat for Steel, Cement, & More
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
