Falkirk Council has taken on 10 Kia Soul EVs, taking its electric vehicle fleet to 45.

The local authority, which has a fleet of more than 600 vehicles, mainly diesel, has also installed an additional 26 charging points, taking its tally to 50.

The fleet procurement was tendered under mini-competition, with the tender process managed by Link Asset Services, the council’s treasury advisers.

Supplied by East Kilbride-based Parks Group, the vehicles are funded on contract hire by Daimler Fleet Management.

Pat Taggart, fleet manager at Falkirk Council, said: “We have had Kia Soul EVs as part of our fleet since February 2017.

“Using them as part of a mixed fleet, among Citroen C-Zeros, Toyota Prius and Nissan eNV200s, we’ve been really impressed with how they have performed.

“We’ll certainly be adding further EVs in 2019.”

Scott Chambers, from Daimler Fleet Management, added: “We believe that a mixed fleet set-up like this is a benchmark for how vehicles should be utilised.

“A mix of diesel and EV vehicles allow Falkirk Council to deploy ‘the right vehicle for the job’. It makes sense both economically and environmentally.”

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