Community Electric Car Project Report Year 1: Abergynolwyn & Bethesda
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Arloesi Gwynedd Community Electric Car Project Report Year 1: Abergynolwyn & Bethesda 2019 - 2020 Contents Introduction 5 Project Aims 5 Year 1 Community Groups 5 Partneriaeth Ogwen 5 Egni Abergynolwyn 6 Who are we? (Amy & Glyn) 7 The cars 7 Initial Community engagement 8 Bethesda 8 Abergynolwyn 8 Charge Point Installation 9 Charge Point Requirements 9 Charge Point Selection 10 PodPoint 10 Swarco 11 EO 11 Installation 11 Costs: Installation & Ongoing 12 Charge Point Usage and Issues Encountered 12 Working with Co-Wheels 13 Why Co-Wheels? 14 Key contacts 15 Co-Wheels processes 15 Registration 15 Car hire prices 16 Admin access 16 TripIQ booking platform 17 Maintenance checks 17 Finance schedule 18 Vehicle guidance 19 Limitations of the Co-Wheels system and/or things to be aware of 20 Car servicing 21 Working with Co-Wheels 21 Community Launch 22 Launch talks by Neil Lewis 22 Community car launch newspaper articles 22 Carwen’s Launch in Bethesda 22 Schedule 23 Marketing 23 Attendance 24 Learnings 24 Carwyn’s Launch in Abergynolwyn 24 Schedule 25 Marketing 25 Attendance 26 Learnings 26 Car usage November 2019 - end of February 2020 (pre-pandemic) 27 Usage Data (Both vehicles combined) 27 Distance 27 Energy 27 Bookings 27 Duration 27 2 Carwen (Bethesda) 27 Carwyn (Abergynolwyn) 28 Monthly hire comparisons 28 GPS tracking 30 Carbon Savings 32 User experience and feedback 33 Bethesda 33 Abergynolwyn 36 User FAQs 40 Polar RFID charging cards 41 Volunteer drivers 41 Practicalities 41 Covid considerations 41 Additional engagement and use opportunities 42 Bethesda 42 Marketing 43 Arloesi Gwynedd 43 Vehicle branding 43 Social media 44 Community Groups 45 Bethesda 45 Social media 45 Talking 45 Press 46 Fliers and posters 46 Abergynolwyn 46 Social media 46 Talks 46 Press 46 Promo video 47 Fliers and posters 47 Business cards 47 Christmas card 47 Car usage April 2020 - August 2020 (CV19) 48 Abergynolwyn 48 Bethesda 49 Cleaning the car procedure - extra precautions during Covid 50 Feedback and reflections from the Community Groups 50 3 Bethesda 50 Overall experience 50 Successes 51 Lessons learnt 51 Top tips for the next community groups 51 Abergynolwyn 52 Overall experience 52 Successes 53 Lessons learnt 54 Top tips for the next community groups 55 4 Introduction Project Aims The Gwynedd community electric car (EV) share project is a two-year project that set out with two main aims. 1. To trial a community car share model in rural communities Can it help people who are currently isolated through lack of public transport to access local services and facilities? The cars can serve those who do not have their own car and/or households that would like use of a second car occasionally. Through a team of volunteer drivers the cars can also assist those who are unable to drive, helping them reach medical appointments, for example, as well as social occasions, keeping them in touch with their local community. 2. To raise awareness of electric cars and promote sustainable transport options EVs are much more efficient than petrol or diesel cars, they can be powered by low carbon renewable energy, have zero tailpipe emissions and are cheaper to run. By giving people an easy opportunity to try out an electric car themselves, the project aims to prove to local residents that people can use an electric car in their day-to-day lives and that it is a viable alternative to a diesel or petrol car. The increase in EVs on the road in Britain has been huge over the last 6 years (3,500 electric cars in 2013, to 227,000 electric cars end of August 2019) and it is important that Gwynedd’s rural residents consider the benefits of electric cars, to themselves and to the environment. Year 1 Community Groups Arloesi Gwynedd Wledig put out an open call for interested Community Groups to apply to be part of the project. Each car would need to be managed, championed and promoted in a local community by a Community Group. They would also be responsible for organising and coordinating a team of volunteer drivers. There were 4 applications and the two successful groups were Partneriaeth Ogwen and Egni Abergynolwyn. Partneriaeth Ogwen https://www.ogwen.org/en/ Partneriaeth Ogwen are a social enterprise based in Bethesda, working for the benefit of the economy, environment and communities of Dyffryn Ogwen. 5 Project lead Huw Davies [email protected] Huw (left) demonstrating the car to a potential volunteer Egni Abergynolwyn http://abergynolwyncarclub.wales/ Egni Abergynolwyn is a registered Community Benefit Society in Abergynolwyn, set up to consider suggestions, ideas and projects that help to reduce the community’s carbon footprint, are eco friendly and can provide benefits to the village and community. As part of their application they produced this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8hkiySDLKM Project lead Steve Beech [email protected] 6 Egni Abergynolwyn committee members out for their first spin in the car. Left to right: Steve, James, Jane and Liz. Who are we? (Amy & Glyn) We are two local EV enthusiasts who are passionate about renewable energy, EVs and low carbon travel. One of the key motivators for us is that EVs provide a pathway to zero carbon transportation. We have been driving EVs for the past 4yrs, we currently own 2 second hand EVs and are very familiar with how they work and have plenty of experience in taking them on local and long distance journeys all around the UK and several longer trips in Europe (blog: https://zerocarbonadventures.co.uk ). Glyn also works in the energy monitoring and EV charging sector (https://openenergymonitor.org). We first approached AGW about replicating the Lake District’s Twizy scheme (https://www.visitengland.com/experience/explore-lakes-funky-electric-twizy) as a fun and enticing way to engage people with EVs. However, although the Twizys provided the spark of inspiration, the project evolved into the Community Car Share scheme described, using the vastly more practical Nissan LEAFs. These provide users with a better insight into EVs, offering a more familiar and like for like alternative to diesel or petrol cars. We are working as specialist support for the project. Charging our 24kWh Nissan LEAF at Shrewsbury rapid charger on a wintry journey. Our home solar panel installation that helps charge our car with renewable energy. The cars The cars chosen for the project are 40kWh Nissan LEAFs. They are 5 door, 5 seater cars with a good amount of boot space. They have an average range of 110-150 miles per charge, depending on driving style and conditions. 7 Inspired by the Renault Twizy scheme in the Lake District that gave their ‘flock’ of Twizys names and personalities, the two cars were given the names: “Carwen” and “Carwyn”. Carwen has been based in Bethesda and Carwyn has been based in Abergynolwyn. “Dec” a branded Twizy in the Lake District that inspired the project, and “Carwyn” one of our Community Nissan LEAFs Initial Community engagement After the successful applicants were announced, face to face meetings were arranged so everyone could meet and talk about next steps to get the project up and running. Although the community groups were enthusiastic themselves, it became apparent in our first meetings that there were elements of their proposals that hadn’t been fully investigated with the relevant parties, or that some stakeholders were potentially not fully on board. Both groups also had questions about the finances and payment schedules. This was understandable because the project information available to the community groups at the proposal stage was limited, with some elements not even fully known or decided upon. Bethesda In regards to Partneriaeth Ogwen, permission had not been granted from the Council for the installation of the charger at the library. Abergynolwyn In regards to Egni Abergynolwyn, the Canolfan were unsure whether they wanted the community car in their car park. This needed to be discussed by the separate Canolfan committee and their meeting schedule meant delays and uncertainty over where the car would 8 be based and whether the project could go ahead. The group did investigate alternatives in the meantime, but this added extra work and stress for them. The parking place was in the end agreed on at the Canolfan, but they imposed a hire fee for the car parking space, which was a cost that the community group had not already factored in. Notes Recommendation to highlight that the proposed home parking and charger location needs to be fully discussed with the owners of the site (if the community group are not the owners) and that the financial information is made clear in advance, so it can be taken into account when the groups are making potential arrangements with relevant parties. Our more detailed understanding of the booking system and administration requirements can also be shared with the phase 2 communities in advance. Charge Point Installation Installing the charge points was a significant hurdle at the beginning of the project. While it is possible to charge an EV from a 3-pin socket a dedicated charge point makes charging much faster and safer. The Nissan LEAF came ready equipped with both a UK 3-pin plug cable and a 7kW 32A ‘type-2’ EV charging cable ready to connect to EV charging stations. This cable is standard and will allow connection to any public charging point. Installing the charging points took much longer than expected, recommendation to start the process as soon as possible. Charge Point Requirements We installed a 7kW 32A singe-phase AC charging point, this is standard for an EV charging point.