E-Car Club, a recently launched nationwide electric car club in Wolverton, Milton Keynes, has acquired three Nissan Leaf electric vehicles to be a part of its E-Car scheme. The club will be offering residents and business in Milton a chance to hire a Leaf for around £5.50 per hour. Members who signed with the scheme will be given a smart card and pin code. After booking a vehicle online, by phone or on their mobile, a member can just walk to where a Leaf is parked, then tap the smart card on a reader in the screen, unplug the charging cable and drive away with the EV. E-Car’s mission is to increase mobility while cutting travel costs and carbon dioxide emissions. E-Car is launching a similar scheme in North Oxford later this autumn, and is planning to acquire two Nissan Leafs for it.
Businesses are provided with three methods to access a Leaf through the E-Car scheme. The “Pay as you Go” method requires businesses to join E-Car Club and add drivers to their account. They will receive a monthly itemized billing on account holder’s usage hours. The “Business Account” method offers a business account a 20% discount and the ability to block book vehicles in advance if it hires a vehicle for a few hours per week.
Usage is tracked online while costs are invoiced monthly. The “E-Car hosting” meanwhile is applicable when a hub is not available locally. It allows businesses to provide a publicly accessible parking space for a vehicle, with E-Car taking care of the rest. Businesses can extend or replace their existing fleet with zero emission vehicles with E-Car managing the fleet on their behalf.
