Originally published on Transport & Environment.
By Eoin Bannon
The average British car is parked more than 95% of the time, and when in use it rarely goes very far: far less than half of car journeys are less than five miles. 29% of cars drive less than 5,000 miles a year. A large proportion of these car owners would be better off financially if they did not own their vehicles and used car clubs for their journeys. This briefing and report will focus on removing the barriers to increased use of EV clubs.
The increasing use of club cars brings great benefits for the environment. They significantly reduce the number of cars overall: 45% of long-time car club members in London reduce their vehicle ownership when becoming a member. In addition, auto club members drive fewer kilometers than car owners and walk and cycle more.
However, many car owners have no way of joining the car club: there are simply no local car clubs in their area. In order to expand the network of electric car clubs and, most importantly, increase its usage, a number of perceived and practical obstacles need to be addressed:
- The lack of a coherent national policy.
- Inconsistent guidelines from local authorities: particularly with regard to access to parking spaces.
- Inadequate suitable charging infrastructure.
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