Trying out the electric car share scheme

I am not sure if I was aware of the electric car in the village before this spring's citizens assembly about climate and sustainability. But I am absolutely sure I knew from then on! And I figured I should get myself on the scheme. The idea is that there is an electric car parked by the library, and if you become a member of the organisation that runs it, you can just book it out for whenever you need it (if no one else beat you to it, of course). You pay for it, but it didn't seem prohibitively expensive. And the car is charged by the solar panels on the roof of the library, so if you drive it, you drive carbon neutral. Yes I know, the manufacture of the car was not carbon neutral, but the driving is. And as this car is available to the entire community, you don't need to manufacture many cars to serve a lot of people! 

Registering didn't immediately float to the top of my to-do list, but it got there in the end. I registered online; that was easy enough. Then I had to counter an email from the organisation under whose umbrella the scheme runs: Co-Wheels; they erroneously assumed that my EEA driving licence is only valid in the UK for a year. But when I corrected them they did not further complain. I had my license officially verified at the post office, and soon after that I received the starter pack in the mail. The most important part of that was the card with which you unlock the car. There also was a brief instruction of how the scheme works. Basically, I was set!

I was a bit nervous about driving an electric car; I have never driven anything like it. And I remember the first few times I drove an automatic. It took me some getting used to! So I wanted to give it a test ride. I couldn't book it for that very afternoon, so I booked it for early morning the day after. And beforehand I googled an instruction video. The Co-Wheels websites did provide instruction PDFs, but just a video of someone actually driving it helped. It looked simple!

The next morning I got to the car bright and early. And it just works! You swipe your card over the reader and the car unlocks. Then you just unplug it from the charging point and off you are! It drives pretty much like any automatic. It was quite responsive, though; if you put your foot down something happens.

The car where it lives

I just took it for a loop around Mynydd Llandygai. And then I brought it back. I was confident! So I booked it for my upcoming trip to mid Wales. I would have liked to go climbing with this thing, but that was on a bit too short notice. But if I take it to mid Wales, I save quite a lot of emissions! It will be more expensive than driving my little Corsa, but that is not what it is about. I will feel really good about travelling sustainably!

Test ride

I fully intend to use this car a lot more often! Keep an eye out for it on this blog…