Villagers to get county's first community electric car club

Villagers, who have no public transport, school or doctors’ surgery, will be able to hire out one of two pool vehicles to get to appointments or for shopping trips.

Harborough District Council has teamed up with Leicester-based Green Fox Community Energy Co-operative for the scheme.

The village will also benefit from two double EV chargepoints located at the village hall which the council has funded and will allow up to four electric cars to be charged.

Councillor Phil King, the council’s leader, said: “We are really pleased to support this project which addresses rural isolation and improves Tilton on the Hill’s connectivity with other areas in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way.

"Both the electric car club and EV chargepoints play an important role in reducing carbon emissions which helps us create a cleaner and green district.”

With financial support from the national Motability Scheme, Green Fox are one of four organisations taking part in an 18-month pilot to help develop a blueprint for rolling out electric car clubs across the country.

With a focus on improving rural mobility, the electric car clubs will be open to all in local communities and offer a volunteer drivers scheme to help residents who can’t drive with medical appointments, shopping, visiting friends and days out.

Ben Dodd, a director of Green Fox, said: “We know it’s not economically viable for commercial operators to provide this type of service in rural areas, but villages and small towns can run electric car clubs for their communities, and they just need the support to do so.

"This project provides the electric charging infrastructure in villages that would otherwise be left behind in the transition to electric transport.”

Tilton on the Hill’s electric car club which launches this month will provide the template for other Leicestershire villages and small towns to follow, particularly as Harborough is hoping to secure further funding from the government’s Rural England Prosperity Fund to support similar projects.

Any other villages in Harborough district interested in exploring an electric car club can email business@harborough.gov.uk for details.