Wales’ very first electrified car club offers Nissan Leaf for £2.50 an hour
The West Wales community of Cilgwyn is set to benefit from a groundbreaking electrical car share scheme
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- Nineteen:01, seven APR 2013
- Updated 14:45, eleven APR 2013
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Wales’ very first “electric car club” has been officially launched.
It means car club members in the Pembrokeshire community of Cilgwyn will have access to an electrically powered Nissan Leaf.
Thanks to almost £25,000 awarded from the Big Lottery Fund’s Village SOS programme, the Cilgwyn Community Group bought the brand fresh electrical vehicle which will form the basis of a fresh community car sharing club in the area.
The scheme was officially launched at the Newport Memorial Hall in Pembrokeshire yesterday afternoon.
Residents in Cilgwyn and neighbouring Newport will be able to book the electrical car online or over the phone at an introductory price of £Two.50 per hour and five pence per mile.
A software programme will work out what the users owe and the car will be opened by using a smartcard.
And onboard telemetrics will feedback each customer’s driving style to protect the battery life.
The enterprise will generate income from membership fees and mileage charges which will then be re-invested in the project.
The car club’s fresh Nissan Leaf also has a solar panel on its roof to contribute to the car’s power.
The car can be charged from a domestic butt-plug and has an official range of about one hundred miles per charge.
In Newport, the car will be charged by using spare solar power generated by panels on the roof of Newport Memorial Hall.
A 2nd electrical car is also due to arrive shortly, with other vehicles to go after if request for the car sharing idea rises.
Vicky Moller, secretary of the Cilgwyn Community Group, said: “In rural communities such as ours, car use and car ownership is embarrassingly excessive.
“And the numbers of buses coming through Cilgwyn are dwindling. We are indeed excited over this and it’s exceptionally needed.
“The nearest town, Newport, is three miles away from Cilgwyn and there only one bus running hourly and not at all in the evenings or on Sundays. People are therefore deterred from travelling if they do not have anyone who can provide a lift.
“This project is a green solution to a problem and provides a cheaper and convenient car sharing service.”
She added: “Almost every Welsh community could produce the fuel to drive their own cars with renewables.
“Who can’t afford five pounds a month? There are no bills, tax or insurance. It’s collective ownership, admittedly, but this leads to the other innovative thing about our car club, it will encourage lift sharing.”
Matt Hemsley, policy advisor at transport charity Sustrans Cymru, said: “The costs of wielding and running a car are pushing many Welsh families into transport poverty.
“Car clubs are a practical way of making a car available for those journeys where one is needed, while removing the significant financial cargo of running one utter time.
“An increase in car clubs across Wales will be a positive step, and if they’re lower-polluting then even better.
“But we must recall car predominated transport systems cause congestion and encourage us to lead inactive lifestyles.
“Therefore it’s vital that politicians concentrate investment on making walking, cycling and public transport the most effective way to travel for the majority of our everyday journeys.”
John Rose, Big Lottery Fund Wales director, said: “While we appreciate that this is a global issue that needs to be addressed on a much broader scale, projects such as this one demonstrate that everyone can make a positive contribution to reduce the influence of their carbon footprint.
“We want to see more communities reducing their carbon footprint and adapting to the consequences of climate switch.
“Ultimately, we want to ensure the money we award has a significant long term influence and makes a big difference to the environment and the lives of people via Wales.”