Comcar's transition to zero emissions has provided a windfall for German luxury car maker BMW, with 140 of its big electric vehicles to be delivered to the federal government-operated fleet within the next few years.
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Six of the BMW iX40 electric sedans, each with a range of around 400kms, have so far been delivered to Comcar.
A further 136 progressively will be added to the national Comcar fleet, the Senate Estimates was told on Tuesday.
A private buyer would pay around $140,000 for an iX40 but those leased to the federal government by SG Fleet are exempt from both fringe benefits tax and luxury car tax.
Of the 140-strong Comcar EV fleet rollout, 15 will be the longer range BMW iX50 sedans.
A tender is being finalised to set up recharging facilities for these vehicles at the primary depot in Dairy Road, Fyshwick, and other Comcar depots around the country.
Until that happens, the Comcar fleet will need to use the public charging that is now being installed around the national precinct and in the underground garage under Parliament House.
Boot and cabin roominess appears to have been a crucial consideration in favour of the big, black, leather-lined BMWs, the hearing was told by acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Dimmock.
"The challenge that we [the Department of Finance] had was that ... the previous sedan fleet, the BMW 6-Series and prior to that Holden Caprices, were large-sized vehicles which met Comcar's fit for purpose requirements," Mr Dimmock said.
"And as we looked at the electric vehicle fleet ... this [BMW] was one of the few vehicles that met the Comcar business requirements for cabin size and boot space."
The previous Coalition mostly had opted for BMWs as the Comcar replacement vehicles, plus some Toyota Camry hybrids, when the end to Australian vehicle manufacturing meant that long wheelbase Holden Caprice sedans were no longer available.
However, in a curious selection signed off by the previous government, the Department of Finance had opted for turbo-diesel BMWs for the mainly short-haul urban Comcar journeys.
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The curiosity of this selection was that turbo-diesel cars generally are optimised for long-haul journeys and when driven for short distances such as around the Canberra suburbs, often suffer from expensive diesel particulate filter (DPF) clogging issues.
The federal government has set a target of 75 per cent of new vehicle orders to be low emissions vehicles (LEVs) by 2025.
The Department of Finance is responsible for whole-of-government fleet purchases but is certain to hit a stumbling block with EVs for Defence operational purposes, as this need includes a significant number of 4WD vehicles.
Very few purpose-built 4WD off-road-type vehicles are currently offered into the Australia market. Mercedes Benz soon will begin building an EV version of its rugged G-Class, but it won't have a towing capability.
Ford is gearing up to build the F150 4WD large-sized pick-up truck and it has an EV version available in other markets - but not here - as does Chrysler with its similar-sized RAM. Toyota will not build a full EV version of its new Tundra pick-up which is due to enter production in Victoria out next year.
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