For fleet managers, electrification can easily become a series of individual projects — replacing vehicles, installing chargers, upgrading switchboards and finding suitable locations for infrastructure.
Wyndham City Council has taken a broader approach by establishing an Electric Vehicle Policy that sets out how EVs will be considered across fleet, planning, public charging and community infrastructure.
The policy, reviewed in April 2025 and updated in May 2025, provides a framework for Council decision-making rather than focusing solely on the vehicles it owns. It covers four main areas: home charging, land-use planning, public charging infrastructure, and Council leadership including fleet electrification.
For fleet managers, it provides an example of how vehicle electrification can be embedded into wider organisational policy rather than being managed purely as a fleet replacement program.
A 2035 target for the Council fleet
The most direct fleet commitment in the policy is Wyndham’s intention to fully transition its vehicle fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
Importantly, the target is intended to be integrated into Council decision-making and procurement processes.
The policy also calls for development of a Fleet Transition Plan covering all Council vehicles and plant, while grants and other funding opportunities are to be pursued to support the transition.
This reflects one of the challenges facing many government fleets: setting an electrification target is relatively simple, but delivering it requires the target to influence replacement planning, procurement, infrastructure investment and operational decisions for many years.
The policy also recognises that electrification needs to be considered as part of service delivery and emergency management planning.
That is particularly relevant for operational fleets where vehicles may be required to work longer hours or respond during emergencies, reducing the time available for charging.
Six principles guide EV decisions
Rather than prescribing the same solution for every application, Wyndham’s policy establishes six principles intended to guide decisions.
They are:
- Decarbonisation — supporting Council and community emissions targets.
- Integrated Planning — supporting EV uptake alongside public and active transport.
- Equitable Access — considering convenient access to charging across the municipality.
- Economic Development — using charging infrastructure to support neighbourhoods and destinations.
- Fit for Purpose — installing the appropriate chargers, in appropriate locations and at the appropriate time while responding to changes in technology.
- Smart City — using digital and physical infrastructure to improve planning and operational outcomes.
The Fit for Purpose principle is particularly relevant to fleet charging.
It recognises that electrification should not simply become a race to install chargers. Infrastructure decisions need to reflect vehicle requirements, location, utilisation and the rapidly changing EV market.
That approach is consistent with the practical lessons Wyndham and its partner councils have subsequently identified through the Local Council EV Integration Project.
EV policy extends beyond the fleet
Wyndham’s policy treats Council’s own vehicles as only one part of the transition.
Home charging is another area.
Council intends to provide residents with information and guidance about installing charging infrastructure, including guidelines covering relevant standards and requirements.
The policy also looks at what new development will need as EV adoption increases.
Council proposes engaging with developers, electricity distributors and other stakeholders to understand charging requirements and constraints and developing minimum expectations for EV infrastructure in new developments.
For councils, this demonstrates the different roles local government can have in electrification.
Fleet teams may be managing chargers inside the depot, while planning and asset teams are dealing with infrastructure needed throughout the wider municipality.
Without coordination, these activities can develop independently even though they face many of the same issues around electrical capacity, charger selection, standards and future demand.
A role for public charging — but not necessarily Council ownership
The policy also supports establishing a public EV charging network across Wyndham.
However, it does not state that Council needs to own and operate every charger.
Instead, Council intends to consider different delivery models, including public-private partnerships. An expression of interest process is identified as a way of exploring market offerings.
The policy states that Council may lead the delivery and operation of charging infrastructure where doing so is considered in the community’s best interests.
Where Council operates public charging, the policy provides for fees to recover installation, maintenance and operating costs while avoiding settings that discourage private charging operators from entering the municipality.
This provides some separation between Council’s responsibility to facilitate charging and the question of who should ultimately own and operate each asset.
Fleet electrification can influence the used EV market
Another interesting aspect of Wyndham’s policy is its recognition of Council’s purchasing power.
Council identifies fleet procurement as one way it can support the development of a second-hand EV market.
That links the fleet replacement cycle with the wider transition.
Government and corporate fleets traditionally supply large numbers of relatively young vehicles into the used market after replacement. As more of these organisations purchase EVs, the same lifecycle could eventually increase the supply of used electric vehicles available to private buyers.
It is an impact of fleet electrification that sits beyond the immediate calculation of fuel savings or fleet emissions.
The policy is designed to change
Wyndham also acknowledges one of the difficulties of writing EV policy: the market can move faster than the policy cycle.
The document proposes annual reviews covering EV ownership and charger demand, utilisation of Council-operated chargers, charging fees and operating costs, vehicle and charger technology, utility and heavy EV developments, smart charging and software, and lessons from other councils.
Those reviews are intended to determine whether the policy or its supporting actions need to change.
For fleet managers, that flexibility may be as important as the 2035 target itself.
Vehicle availability, charging technology, electricity infrastructure and operating requirements are unlikely to remain static throughout a decade-long fleet transition.
Wyndham’s policy provides the strategic direction. The challenge for the fleet and the wider organisation is then to continually translate those principles into vehicle replacement decisions, charging infrastructure and operating practices.
That makes electrification less about purchasing a particular EV and more about building an organisational framework capable of managing the transition over time.
