Government fails to meet its own EV fleet commitments

The Government is failing in its commitment to switch to electric vehicles (EVs) — yet the Treasury continues to impose higher costs on ordinary motorists who do not switch to EVs according to exclusive What Car? research.

In 2017, the Government pledged to “electrify” 25% of the Central Government car fleet by 2022, and then for all of its cars and vans to be fully electric by the end of 2027. However, What Car?'s exclusive research shows it is currently falling way short of these targets. 

Overall, only 15% of its cars and vans are pure electric. While it is doing better at switching to electric cars over - 22% are currently EVs - electric van figures are way down on the target at just 4%. 

The Government has given its fleets the opportunity to apply for exemption for certain vehicles from going electric. Between April and 31 May, departments could register any vehicles that cannot go fully electric for security and other reasons. Exemptions will be confirmed by 31 July.

However, the figures obtained by What Car? already take into account vehicles that are likely to gain exemption from the EV commitment because it only includes cars and vans weighing up to 3500kg.

What Car? obtained information about 7116 cars and vans operated by 21 Central Government departments via Freedom of Information requests. The data received shows that only 15% of the overall fleet are pure electric; 1% are hybrids, 3% are petrol-engined, 22% are plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and 59% are diesel-fuelled. 

The figures for cars are better: 22% are pure electric and 35% are PHEVs, but 35% are diesel-powered. However, 96% of vans are diesels, and only 4% are EVs. 

Some Central Government fleets have done well at going green, though. The DVLA told us that 88% of its cars and 67% of its vans are EVs. All of National Highways’ 10-strong van fleet are also electric, and, although only 15% of its cars are EVs, 84% are plug-in hybrids and 2% are diesels. 

Not all divisions have done so well. Almost all of the Ministry of Justice’s 1189 vans are diesel-powered, and 19% of its cars have diesel engines. Only 16% of its cars are EVs, but the majority of the others are either hybrid or PHEV: 44% and 52% respectively. The DVSA doesn’t do much better: 99% of its vans and 47% of its cars are diesel-powered, and it has no pure electric vans and only 11% of its cars are electric. 

While What Car?’s figures suggest that many Government fleets have so far only switched to lower-emission cars, such as PHEVs and hybrids, rather than pure electric vehicles, this doesn’t tally with recent moves by the Treasury to increase the cost of running these lower emission alternatives.   

Instead of offering incentives to encourage private buyers to choose an electric car, as suggested by many in the car industry, and in What Car?’s EV Manifesto, the Government has raised taxes for most greener vehicles. It hiked road tax (VED) rates for PHEVs and hybrids by up to 1000% in the 2025 Spring Statement, increasing the first year rate for cars emitting 1-50 g/km of CO2 from £10 a year to £110, and raising the rate for cars emitting 51-75 g/km of CO2 from £30 to £130. 

The most recent increases in company car tax have also made it more costly to drive anything other than an EV, and other fees for non-EVs have also been increased, too – including the London Congestion Charge, which was free for PHEVs until 2021, but now costs £15 a day, and could rise again under new proposals. 

What Car? believes it is completely wrong that the Government is not cleaning up its own fleet at the same time that it is penalising ordinary drivers for not going electric by slapping higher taxes on low-emission alternative vehicles.

As proposed in What Car?’s EV Manifesto, we believe the Government should provide financial incentives, such as halving the VAT on new EVs, and reduced VAT on public EV charging costs, to make it easier and more appealing for motorists to switch to EVs.   

Fuel split of cars and vans on Central Government fleet

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