Not quite news from Dorset, but a bit further north the electric car movement has picked up some speed (apologies).
On Monday, Michael Eavis, of Glastonbury fame, was seen plugging his Nissan LEAF [leased from Dorset Energized partners FJ Chalke in Wincanton] into Bristol’s first free green public electric vehicle charger.
Solar Sense installed the point and has confirmed it is for use 24 hours a day and, on top of this, they have just invested in a fleet of electric cars. If the demand is high enough, then hopefully more will be implemented within the Bristol area.
Also, British Gas last week announced a new 6 month scheme with POLAR, through which the companies will install 1500 free charge points for people living in London, Milton Keynes and the Midlands as well as providing electric car owners with a free home charger and installation.
In Wales, Zero Carbon World, in association with Good Energy, have just installed 2 electric charging pumps at the Centre of Alternative Technology, with plans for more to hopefully increase the potential of electric transport across the border.
Finally, the Department of Transport has published figures showing that 473 new electric cars were purchased between April and May 2012 – double the figure for the same period last year. This can attributed to the plug-in grant scheme offering buyers £5000 of the 10 electric car models.
It seems that the issue of what comes first: the electric car or charging point is beginning to be solved. Hopefully this can increase demand, reduce cost and bring the relevant infrastructure to areas away from the major cities, places like Dorset. Of course, this all means very little if the electricity is not coming from renewable sources but action to create a sustainable transport network is being taken, and sometimes action creates change.