TTK in collaboration with RBK, held an electric vehicle exhibition in the ancient Market Square, Kingston Town Centre on the 28th & 29th of July 2010. The exhibition was originally the idea of TTK member John Katz and the objective was not to promote electric vehicles per se, but rather to explore the technology and to understand better whether it will contribute to the transition.
The event was well attended by many of the London and regional boroughs and local authorities as well as officers from RBK and, of course, the general public. A number of TTK members gave generously of their time to staff the TTK stall. It was opened by Chrissie Hitchcock the Mayor of RBK. In her opening address she noted that this was the first community and council led electric vehicle exhibition in the UK. After a reception for invited guests, we held an open discussion on the pros and cons of electric vehicles in the Market House. To start the discussion, John gave us an investment perspective on EVs – why they could become a financial nightmare. The discussion was well attended and we all learnt a great deal about many of the issues associated with electric vehicles.
Exhibitors
Exhibitors included an all electric Citroen C1. This is an ordinary Citroen C1 that has been converted to a lithium-ion electric car by a company called the Electric Car Corporation. Apparently an ordinary Citroen C1 costs about £10,000 and the electric version costs about £20,000. Tata were exhibiting their new all-electric truck and kindly ferried the Mayor from the Guildhall in it. There was a new taxi company based in New Malden which only uses Prius cars, called Go Green. Their prices seem to be similar to other private hire taxis and their telephone number is 0208 949 3223.
Two electric bicycles were exhibited as well. One of them from a start-up company in Long Ditton and they can be found on shrinkabike.co.uk. The other one was mine – won in a competition 18 months ago and still going strong. Paul Brandon from Kingston University exhibited his racing motorbike. Dru Lawson exhibited a commercially available electric scooter/motorbike that costs about £6000 - solstisbikes.com. In addition Streetcar and ETA were present. Streetcar provide a very successful car share scheme. ETA provide a breakdown service for bicycles (and cars). Another exhibitor was the local Honda dealer who supply a sporty looking hybrid CRZ that should appeal to petrol-heads. Hiremech exhibited their Megavan as well as a quadricycle. All together we had 11 exhibitors and filled the market square. See sites.google.com/site/electriccars2010/
The Future
Many members of the public wandered through the exhibition and I’m sure it opened their eyes to transport and energy issues. The exhibition enabled TTK to have a high profile, as usual, and we collected a number of interesting new members. We’ve wanted to start a transport project group and this surely can be considered one of its first outputs.
Regular transition events
Kingston Orchard Working Party
Kingston Orchard Project runs working parties every Sunday 2-4pm at Knollmead Allotments Tolworth, KT5 9QP
Stitch in Time
First Wednesday of every month. TTK's sociable sewing sessions at Kingston Environment Centre, Fairfield East, KT1 2PT
Permaculture at Knollmead
Some Sunday afternoons. Contact Simone at simone@stainedglass.freeserve.co.uk or on 07737 277 470 for info and dates
Join the transition
