Should the mayoral car be electric?

Other councils, including the City of Sydney, have electric cars in their fleets; the Mayor of Dubbo, Mathew Dickerson, drives a fully electric car.

But Councillor Geoff Kettle said he would keep driving his Ford for the time being.

"I am not going to move to an electric car because the car I have is valid for another three years," Cr Kettle said. "A new Tesla costs $120,000. The car I drive is an operational matter determined by the council's fleet needs.

"That said, it is a privilege to have a vehicle to drive around. I drive a Ford Mondeo turbo diesel, which gets me about 5.3L to 100km. Compare this with Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores, which get about 9L per 100km."

Goulburn Mulwaree general manager Warwick Bennett said the council had previously had hybrid cars in its fleet.

A decision to replace the current mayoral car with a hybrid at the end of its term would depend on "competitive tendering and operational needs".

Dubbo's Mayor Dickerson has driven a fully electric car since his council invested in a Nissan Leaf late last year.

The $27,999 car is Cr Dickerson's third electric vehicle, following on from a Holden Volt (a model since scrapped), then a Mitsubishi Outlander, but the first to be 100 per cent electric with no back-up petrol engine.

This time last year, when Cr Dickerson switched to the Outlander, he told the Dubbo Liberal that the nature of his job was "perfectly suited" to electric vehicles, with the majority of his trips made within the local government area, averaging 5km.

This year, Cr Dickerson said it was time to make "the next logical step" to an electric-only vehicle.

"The 170km range may seem limiting, but it is a rare day when I would do more than (a total of) 40km travel in the city of Dubbo to undertake my duties as mayor," he said.

"I also believe it is important that leaders show leadership in a community and reducing pollution should be important in every community."

Cr Dickerson said he planned to charge the car daily using his home solar system, although considering the car's range he also had the option of going for three or four days without plugging it in. "I have a 10kW solar array at my home and I only ever charge the car at home so, in effect, the sun is powering the mayoral vehicle," he said.

"The technical reality is that my solar panels send electricity into the grid, but a 10kW solar array produces dramatically more power than my household needs, including the power required by the Leaf, so in effect there is no additional carbon being burned.

"As the use of electric cars increases, companies will be encouraged to invest further to continually improve the technology."

City of Sydney Council has 10 Nissan Leaf vehicles in its fleet.