Camden electric car club trial begins

Hurrah! Camden launched an electric car club pilot today in partnership with Hertz. (See photo below of me with Cllr Paul Braithwaite, who's passionate about improving air quality, and Cllr Chris Knight, the Executive Member for Environment.)

An electric car club trial is something I first called for two years ago. It makes perfect sense. At the moment we don't have the on-street parking space to allow everyone who wants one to have an electric car. The technology isn't ready. Batteries currently need to be charged for at least six hours in a 24 hour period. That would effectively mean giving resident their own on-street charging point which clearly isn't possible given the pressure on parking. So at the moment the only people who can have electric cars are those with off-street parking.

Car club cars go back to the same spot so they are ideal for combining with electric charging points. And on average they spend 60% of a 24 hour period in their parking place so they should always be charged. Hertz's partners are working on some technology that would allow them to see how much charge the car has in it when it gets back to its stand. If the charge is low, then car club members will be directed to another vehicle.

I was hoping that this trial would crack the problem of residents forgetting to plug in the cars by automatically starting the charge process when the cars are returned, but sadly it doesn't. This still requires a cable which could get unplugged or cut. But it's a great start. And what a joy to see a four door electric car that a family could genuinely use as a run around.