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Electric vehicles plan ready to get motoring

THE first trial of electric vehicles in the region has been deemed a success, leaving hundreds of drivers ready to make the switch to low carbon transport.

Cenex, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies, alongside One North East, deployed four electric two-seater Smart ForTwo cars over six months in the region from September 2009.

These were placed into ten different vehicle fleets, featured at three public events and in total were driven by 264 different people.

Among the key findings of the trial, 72% of people who took part in a test drive said they would use an electric vehicle as their regular car.

Meanwhile, the car exceeded the public’s expectations on all monitored performance aspects. Drivers found charging the vehicle was easy, safe and reliable.

Drivers were also over-cautious about the car’s battery life when planning journeys.

The trials showed that vehicle fleets could provide a successful early market for electric vehicles, having left 58% of fleet users feeling more positive about electric vehicles and 88% of fleet managers feeling more positive about incorporating electric vehicles into their fleets.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .