Two medical practices in the English county of Warwickshire are taking part in a project to test the efficiency of electric cars in rural areas.
Warwickshire County Council, as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), is leading the Warwickshire General Practice Electric Vehicle (GPEV) initiative over the next 18 months with project management being supplied by South Warwickshire-based Greenwatt Technology.
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Doctors from two local health centres will trial Peugeot iOn EVs for local home visits, prescription delivery and on-call services.
The EVs, supplied on a sponsored lease by Peugeot’s UK unit in nearby Coventry, have been fitted with tracking devices to enable their journeys to be recorded throughout the project with data being analysed by Coventry University.
The data will be used to see if electric vehicles are suited to the needs of UK GPs, health centres and similar rural businesses. It is the first time such a study has been carried out in the country.
Dedicated charging points have been installed by British Gas, with installation support from 365 Technical Plant Services, to provide quick charging at each medical centre. Funding for the project has been provided jointly by British Gas and through the government’s ‘Plugged in Places’ scheme.
Electric charging points have been installed at nearby Stratford-upon-Avon’s park-and-ride site and several are planned for a new railway station opening next door.
Another 100 Peugeot iOns are already on UK roads so far.
Mitsubishi Motors last week said it had “temporarily” halted shipments of its rebranded i-MiEV electric car to PSA Peugeot Citroen – badged iOn for Peugeot and C-Zero for Citroen.
The automaker said it would stop deliveries in Europe which began after the two automakers signed a supply deal two years ago.
“This is a temporary stoppage for adjusting stocks (of inventory),” a Mitsubishi spokesman in Tokyo said, declining to elaborate.
Peugeot leases the iOn in the UK from GBP249 per month.
