Three electric cars for DPI Orange as it plugs into green energy

The trio of Hyundai Kona cars were rolled out on Tuesday.

Secretary of the NSW department of Planning, Industry and Environment Jim Betts said two electric charging stations were available at the DPI's Kite Street building and another would be built into its new headquarters on Prince Street.

"These are the first [DPIE] electric cars to be bought for NSW and they are based here in Orange," he said.

"They have got a range of about 450 kilometres so you can get to Dubbo and back in a day which is pretty good."

Mr Betts said having the DPI offices in Orange made it the natural site for the first cars.

"It's a huge regional centre for us. It's such a huge base for us it just made perfect sense for this to be the place where we launch this great new environmental initiative," he said.

"[In] my department, the department of Planning Industry and Environment, we have about 5000 staff which are regionally based which means we have got a lot of vehicles.

"If we can get 10 per cent of them to be electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles that's a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a big contribution to the environment.

"This is about the government starting locally and showing a little bit of leadership."

He said they hoped an electric vehicle program could be rolled out across the rest of government.

"Maybe we'll encourage other private companies to do the same thing," he said.

"We're starting with three but we're pretty keen to expand that contribution to the environment as soon as we can."

The NRMA showed off a similar model to launch Orange City Council's electric car fast charging station in the council car park in July.

Mr Betts said while electric cars cost more than petrol equivalents they were less expensive, more efficient and better on the environment than other cars.

"Because it doesn't rely on petrol there are fewer moving parts which means there are less maintenance costs and lower costs of powering them too," he said.

"The benefits really kick in the longer you use them, the more you save on them."