Fife social housing tenants to get EV car hire club

A zero-emission electric vehicle (EV) car club is being launched for social housing tenants in Fife.

Ore Valley Housing Association and Enterprise Car Club are behind the initiative which aims to engage communities in electric vehicles and shared mobility. The initiative will see four fully electric plug-in Nissan LEAFs available for hire from £5.00 an hour.

The vehicles will be available for use by residents of the housing association, as well as anyone who lives or works in the surrounding area. A further six vehicles will be introduced in Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes as the charging infrastructure is developed.

Membership to the Ore Valley car club also gives users access to a growing network of 300 vehicles across Enterprise Car Club locations in 12 Scottish towns, cities and communities, as well as the total network of 1,200 electric, hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles across 170 towns and communities in the UK.

Residents of Ore Valley Housing Association will receive one year’s free membership to Enterprise Car Club, and the first 50 members to sign up will also receive £50 driving credit.

The initiative is funded by Scotland’s Plugged-In Households Grant Fund which launched for the first time in October 2018 and has already created opportunities for people to drive low emission vehicles in Aberdeenshire, Elgin, Glasgow, Midlothian, Paisley and Orkney.

In total, it’s claimed the clubs are now available to over 100,000 households.

Nick Clark, business development manager at Ore Valley Housing Association, said: ‘Our aim is that this new venture will act as a catalyst for our residents and the surrounding areas to try out electric vehicles as well as the benefits of shared access to a car.

‘Delivering this car club comes from a carefully developed partnership between ourselves, Enterprise Car Club and the Energy Savings Trust to make the best use of the funding from Transport Scotland.

‘Our housing developments in Lochgelly and Cardenden are in more rural areas with less access to public transport. We are hoping that using the electric car club will help residents be as environmentally friendly as possible on journeys that are only possible in a car.’