Labour has announced a £300m proposal to put 30,000 publicly-owned electric cars on the streets, however it appears councils would foot the bill.
Under the policy, announced at the Labour Party Conference, the clubs would be owned and operated by community-level co-operatives and local authorities.
The £300m scheme would put £250m towards purchasing the electric vehicles, which would be leased to the Community Car Clubs at £25,000 per vehicle - representing a £450m total profit for central government.
The remaining £50m of central government investment would be spent on financing and procuring the digital technology, mobile apps, data analysis, start-up costs and systems management to support local community car clubs.
The move raised eyebrows in the local government community with insiders asking why councils would not just cut out the 'central government middle man', which would be making £500m profit on leasing the vehicles minus the £50m spent on back office and digital technology.
The scheme also aims to support the roll-out of electric vehicles in rural areas, where there is less of a business model and therefore councils are less able to make money back on the cost of the lease.
Labour were approached for comment but declined to explain what was in this for councils and what uptake was expected or arranged.
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