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North East businesses join forces to capitalise on electric vehicle uptake

A North East car dealer has teamed up with a local electric vehicle charging company as it looks to capitalise on the growing second-hand market in electric vehicles.

Martin Hodgson at Parkgate Motor Co. in Darlington has brought Darren Pegram of 4EV, also in Darlington, on-board as he looks to expand the support and range of services available to customers interested in purchasing a second-hand electric car.

The online charging cable and EV accessory company is to supply the car dealer with charging cables and accessories, as well as provide advice and guidance on charging options and locations.

Martin, who has over 15 years’ experience in the second-hand vehicles market, made his first venture into the electric cars market nine months ago after purchasing a pair of Nissan LEAFs at auction.

He explained: “I could see that electric vehicles were increasing in popularity so decided to buy a couple of Nissan LEAFs at auction, one to try myself and one to sell on. I had no idea what the response would be but had interest almost straight away.”

Since then he has sold over 20 electric vehicles in the last few months to customers from all over the country, and has now turned to Darren to help his grow his EV offering even further.

With recent figures from the North East LEP showing that 10% of all UK registered vehicles are based in the region, and with 1,163 currently dotted around the North East, Darren believes the area could become an EV hub.

He said: ““The electric vehicle market is growing at an incredible rate and the North East is becoming a real hub, with people in this region really embracing the idea of EVs.

“I set up 4EV because I could see there wasn’t really anyone out there selling reasonably priced charging cables online and Martin has found a similar situation with the second-hand electric vehicles – there is a demand but not many people meeting that at the moment.

“I think it’s really important that local independent business support each other and between Martin’s business and 4EV we can offer new EV owners the full package, from sales through to advice.”

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