Despite promising to lead the shift to electric vehicles, the UK government has been slow to clean up its own car fleet—while increasing taxes on drivers who haven’t yet gone fully electric.
New figures obtained by What Car? through Freedom of Information requests show that only 22% of government cars are fully electric. The rest include:
- 35% diesel
- 35% plug-in hybrids
- 6% petrol
- 2% regular hybrids
This comes despite a pledge made under Boris Johnson’s Conservative government to make the entire government fleet—cars and vans—zero-emission by 2027.
Progress varies across departments. For example, the DVLA reports that 88% of its vehicles are electric. In contrast, the Ministry of Justice says only 16% of its fleet is electric.
Critics say it’s unfair that the government hasn’t met its own targets while hitting drivers with higher taxes. In the latest Spring Statement, vehicle tax for hybrids and plug-in hybrids was increased sharply—from £10–£30 to £110–£130, depending on emissions. That’s a rise of up to 11 times.
“It’s completely wrong for the government to lag behind on electrifying its fleet while penalising everyday drivers,” said What Car? editor Steve Huntingford.
The 2027 target was originally set in a Department for Transport paper under then-Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. It promised that 25% of the government fleet would be ultra-low emission by 2022 and 100% zero-emission by 2027.
With a new Labour government now in office, it’s unclear whether they’ll stick to this plan. So far, they’ve already delayed the ban on selling new hybrid cars by five years—from 2030 to 2035.
