The City of Ryde continues to invest in a cleaner and greener future, with the introduction of two electric vehicles (EVs) and accompanying charging stations into its fleet.
The introduction of the two EVs builds on the City of Ryde's efforts to reduce its own carbon footprint as part of Council's commitment towards becoming Net Zero Emissions by 2050, which is being led by staff in Council's Environment team.
This project also supports Council's pledge under the Cities Power Partnership program towards encouraging sustainable transport use.
The charging stations for the new EVs will be powered by solar energy generated at a Council facility to ensure the process is renewably sourced. This means both EVs will have zero emissions produced from their use and fuel source compared to more than one tonne of carbon emissions that their fuel - based versions would produce per year combined.
City of Ryde Mayor, Clr Jerome Laxale, said the new EVs were an important first step in transitioning away from fuel -based cars.
"The devastating impacts caused by climate change have shown that we need authorities at all levels of government to start demonstrating leadership and embrace new technology to reduce carbon em issions. In fact, the Ryde community has told us directly that they want Council to take a leading role on environmental issues - such as reducing carbon emissions - and the purchase of these EVs does exactly that," Clr Laxale said.
"The City of Ryde will continue to lead the way in implementing policies that will benefit the environment and deliver real action on climate change for the benefit of the local community both today and well into the future."
Clr Christopher Gordon, who proposed the electric vehicle project to Council, said EVs bring a range of benefits to the community and to the environment, and are also a long term cost -effective solution.
"Th e benefits of EVs include reduced air pollution, removal away from fossil fuel based sources of transport as well as long term benefits such as significantly lower fuel and ongoing maintena nce costs. I hope the introduction of EVs to Council's fleet will convince others to follow suit and make the transition to EVs faster," Clr Gordon said.
In addition to the purchase of the EVs, the City of Ryde intends to roll out public EV charging stations in the near future that will com plement existing community charging locations at key spots across the local government area.
