Britain’s seaside town of Brighton is to get its own electric car club, starting with a Mercedes Vito E-CELL van.
Set to be run by City Car Club, the electric van will be available for members to use for local collections and deliveries.
As part of the electrification of the town, charging point firm Elektromotive has been selected to install recharging posts to meet the needs of the new electric club. The company will supply a Rapid Charge Elektrobay which can charge the battery of a compatible EV to 80 per cent in just 20 minutes, compared to around seven hours if using a conventional domestic power supply.
The first vehicle to join the new EV club, a fully-electric Mercedes Vito Van, will be made available to traders operating in Brighton’s new London Road Open Market. The Open Market is a green urban regeneration initiative led by The Hyde Group, the developer behind the project and a leading provider of affordable housing.
To highlight the excellent green credentials of the new fully-electric Mercedes Vito Van, Elektromotive and Hyde entered the RAC Future Car Challenge at the weekend and secured the award for ‘Most Energy Efficient Light Commercial Vehicle’.
Brighton & Hove Councillor, Alex Phillips, took part in the challenge from Brighton’s Madeira Drive to the finish line on Pall Mall in London. With a quick charge on route, the Mercedes Vito Van drove the 60-mile journey with 28 perc ent of its charge remaining demonstrating its suitability for many commercial traders.
The Open Market – which has an Eco Rating of BREEAM Excellent- is expected to be completed in summer 2013, and uses environmentally responsible Green Guide rated materials together with solar power, rainwater harvesting and exhaust-air heat pumps to help minimise its impact on the environment. The project will feature a new covered market area, creative industries workspace and a new residential street providing affordable homes for local people, together with its very own Rapid Charge Elektrobay.
Hyde and Elektromotive are also working together to electrify ’One Hove Park’, another proposed new housing development in Brighton & Hove. It is proposed that the 71 sustainable new homes will each be equipped with an Elektrobay Home Charger unit, as well as other features including triple-glazing, solar power, community allotments for food growing and a super-insulated building envelope to help reduce resident fuel bills.
