Why Drive Electric?

Electric vehicles are not new, they have been around for more than two hundred years and I'm not just talking about the milk float here.

Back in 1828 Anyos Jedlik and Thomas Davenport, were two of the pioneers of electric vehicles using one of the earliest electric motors.

However, the popularity of electric motors started to dwindle as the road networks improved and drivers wanted to be able to travel longer distances. Enter the internal combustion engine allowing automotive engineers to build vehicles with greater range.

It's interesting that until recently range was one of the major obstacles to electric vehicle adoption today.

According to the Office for National Statistics Transport in the UK contributes more than one fifth of carbon emissions and this has barely changed since 1990. We have a target of hitting 'Net Zero' by 2050 and to have any chance we must reduce emissions from transport.

What is more it is estimated that air pollution is killing more than one hundred people a day in the UK. Most of our transport emissions are on the roads where we live and contribute to an estimated 40,000 deaths per year. If our water supply was killing 40,000 people a year there would be a national outcry – and yet this is not the case in the transport sector.

Until recently there has been little choice – we need to get around in our every day lives and early electric vehicles did not really provide the right solution – however THAT IS NO LONGER THE CASE.

It is said that Tesla have done to electric cars what Apple did to the mobile phone and we are seeing the barriers to driving electric falling away rapidly. We now have a seriously good range of electric cars available in the UK that are not only affordable, they are fun, fast and full of tecci gadgets.

The average daily commute in the UK is 15 miles therefore many more of us could be driving electric and improving air quality. This would reduce the number of deaths from pollution, help us move closer to our 'Net Zero' target and save drivers huge amounts of money as well. However, the technology has moved so fast you can be forgiven for still thinking “milk float” when electric vehicles (EVs) are mentioned.

It is a massive topic and many of us don't understand the whole subject, let alone be able to make the decision to buy one. Of course, the single biggest benefit of switching to electric cars is their positive effect on the environment, and the UK has promised to meet 15% of its energy needs sustainably by 2020. With transport responsible for over a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions, the race is on to shift away from burning fossil fuels towards a more sustainable transport system. This is why we're working hard to create an information centre to help you decide if driving electric will be right for you.