COUNCIL bosses have spent £72,000 on seven new electric vehicles as part of their effort to be more environmentally friendly.

The Nissan Leaf vehicles were bought after North Ayrshire Council secured the funding from the Scottish Government as part of their Switched On Fleets Initiative.

The fleet includes three new electric cars, which will be based at Cunninghame House for the use of all staff. Two other cars will be used by the Waste Services team.

One electric van will be used by Streetscene staff and another new electric van will be available for employees based at Eglinton Country Park.

The cars based at Cunninghame House will form part of the Council’s car pool scheme which was launched in partnership with Enterprise Rent a Car in October last year and already has eight vehicles.

The development of this scheme, the electric cars and other initiatives will contribute to the wider review of business travel with savings of £200,000 targeted by the council.

The Car Pool scheme also made significant reductions on CO2 emissions, to the tune of approximately 1.5 tonnes, in its first six months.

Councillor Tony Gurney, Cabinet Member for Place, said: “We are a council committed to our environment. Our recycling rates are up there with the best in Scotland and we are seen as a renewables centre of excellence thanks to all our innovative plans.

“Our car pool scheme has already been a success in the first six months.

“I’m delighted we are now adding these new electric cars. It is widely accepted that the cost of powering electric vehicles is significantly cheaper than operating traditional fuel vehicles. I am confident these cars will make another significant difference to our carbon footprint. The team involved deserve enormous credit.”

There are two charging points at Cunninghame House and together with the recently extended network of publicly available electric vehicle charging points across North Ayrshire will ensure adequate charging facilities are available for electric vehicles.

The Scottish Government is committed to the almost complete decarbonisation of road transport by 2050.