Corporate Fleet
Local Authorities have a leadership role in climate action under their Climate Action Plans and Offaly County Council has made a commitment to support the Government to address climate change under the Transport section of Offaly’s Climate Action Plan 2024-2029.
Offaly County Council is demonstrating exemplary behaviour by investing in and developing sustainable transport. The Roads department have purchased a quantity of electric vans for the corporate fleet where technology, cost differential and resources allow. Offaly County Council is also assisting with the provision of EV charging infrastructure around the County. These are two important areas where Offaly County Council is having a significant contribution to the decarbonisation effort of Offaly County Councils Green House Gas (GHG) emissions inventory.
Zero Emission and Low Carbon Vehicles
The corporate fleet vehicles are essential in ensuring delivery of many of our organisational services that are provided to the communities to whom we serve including our Roads Programs, Winter Service Plan and Major Emergency Plan.
As leaders of change, Offaly County Council have introduced Zero Emission and Low Carbon Emission vehicles to the corporate fleet. This process included the removal of 5 diesel engine vans from our fleet which were due to be replaced with fully Electric Zero Emission Vehicles and also the introduction of Hydro treated Vegetable Oil or HVO for the rest of the fleet including larger vehicles. Hydro treated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is a low carbon biofuel which produces 90% less carbon emissions than standard road diesel.
Offaly County Council have recently introduced 2 new Velocity Patching Units. The addition of these vehicles to our Road Maintenance fleet introduces a modern and more comprehensive approach to road maintenance. This new approach will decrease the carbon footprint associated with this work stream. The carbon savings are greatly enhanced by the fact that these two vehicles will operate on HVO fuel. HVO provides an immediate 90% reduction on the operating carbon footprint of the vehicle when compared with traditional road diesel. These vehicles also provide a much safer and efficient process for dealing with localised road failures.
Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
Increasing EV Infrastructure under the National EV Strategy is one of the Government’s key interventions in the move to reduce fossil fuel energy consumption and Green House Gas emissions.
Offaly County Council in collaboration with our Department of Transport colleagues working within the Zero Emission Vehicle Ireland (ZEVI) section completed the installation of 2 new fast charging Electric Vehicle points at Áras an Chontae and the machinery yard in Tullamore in 2022. This new infrastructure will expand on the services available at both these sites to our customers and stakeholders and have been designed to enable future expansion of these services at both sites in the future.
In 2022 Offaly County Council also facilitated the commencement of the delivery of an additional 10 new 50kW Electric Charging points across the County. The sites selected for this infrastructure are situated in Tullamore, Edenderry, Birr, Kilmalogue, Portarlington, Clara, Banagher, Ferbane, Daingean, Kilcormac, Shinrone & Rhode.