The 'Electric Vehicles in Council's Fleet' report gave a half way mark update to a two year trial and was delivered to council at the Strategy and Assets Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 18.

Three electric vehicles (EVs) had been purchased by council and allocated to council staff with one going to the mayor.

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The report found that electric vehicles were significantly better for the environment than comparator vehicles and were well suited as pool vehicles which typically had short, local journeys, however a number of downsides were also raised.

The report, approved by the Director of City Services Paul Keech, found the range of the trial vehicles to be of concern as they were 44 per cent below specification. It also mentioned recharging was time consuming and operational costs were higher than comparator vehicles, partly because servicing had to be done in Sydney.

Councillor Kaye Gartner said the report did not acknowledge council had no option but to adopt electric vehicles as the car manufacturing industry was headed that way within the next 10 to 15 years.

"And secondly, my information is that electric vehicles can be bought for less than $45,000 and that owners save $2000 a year on fuel costs and services," she said.

Councillor John Wells reiterated it was "not a report into the future, it [was] a report of the last 12 months".

Cr Gartner agreed with Cr Wells but said the report had no risk assessments which were forward looking.

"The risk is that council will not be able to run fossil fuel burning vehicles going forward so on the basis of this trial, it would look like we wouldn't continue to include EVs in the fleet but we must continue to include EVs in the fleet because that is the only way going forward," she said.

Shoalhaven council Commercial Services Section Manager Phillip Perram said local EV servicers would drive council costs down.

"As soon as there's an electric vehicle service area in the Shoalhaven, that will take away the competitive disadvantage of getting those vehicles serviced," he said.

As a user of an electric vehicle, Mayor Amanda Findley said she was "eternally grateful" that council went down the route of an EV trial and reinforced electric vehicles had come a long way since they were introduced to the market.

"Typical usage between overnight charges is between 100 to 150 kms. Overnight charge on a home power socket is ample for that kind of distance," she said.

Councillor Patricia White, who attended the South East Australian Transport Inc the week prior, said the organisation was putting together a regional electric vehicle strategy on behalf of member councils.

She said the organisation is pursuing $16 million of federal government funding which was announced in the budget so member councils will be infrastructure-ready for electric vehicles in its fleet.