E-Car Club, a nationwide electric car club, is launching Nissan’s all-electric LEAF for hire by the day or hour in Milton Keynes.
Three Nissan LEAFs have been purchase by the car club, which will hire them out for around £5.50 an hour to local residents and businesses.
Members of the scheme are given a smart card and a pin code, which they can use to hire and drive away a nearby LEAF.
E-Car is starting the scheme in Wolverton, Milton Keynes but plans to launch two further Nissan LEAFs to hire in North Oxford later this autumn, followed by Whitehill Bordon in Hampshire and Harrow in London.
“[This is a] very exciting time for motorists as many want to experiment with driving an electric car before they make the decision to own one,” adds Andrew Wordsworth, chair of E-Car Club. “We hope to grow the E-Car network over the coming months.”
Businesses can also sign up the scheme, block booking vehicles for a few hours in advance and receiving a 20% discount in return or opting to ‘pay as you go’. Alternatively, E-Car can help businesses far from a local hub replace or extend their fleet with electric vehicles.
“The launch of E-Car… makes LEAF accessible to a number of consumers and business users who previously may not have had access to an electric vehicle,” says Barry Beeston, Nissan’s fleet sales director.
Milton Keynes and Oxford are fast becoming the centre of the UK’s burgeoning electric car network.
Earlier this year, Chargemaster plc launched a fast-charging network in Oxford and already has over a hundred charging points at Milton Keynes, Bicester and local attractions like Silverstone and Cheltenham race track.
More recently, Nissan and Ecotricity have installed fast-charging points on the M40 in Oxford, as well as at South Mimms on the M25 and at Hopwood Park on the M42.
And with Oxford also signed up to Hertz’s On Demand electric car club, the city promises to have one of the highest densities of electric car charging points per capita in Europe.
For further information:
www.e-carclub.org
www.nissan.co.uk
Related stories:
IBM to help drive through Irish electric vehicle charging network (2-Oct)
Updated: Chargemaster plugs Oxford into electric vehicle network (15-May)
Nissan’s all-electric LEAF available for hire in London and Paris (21-Feb)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5446/
