AN ELECTRIC vehicle car club offering East Lothian Council staff and members of the public access to hire vehicles has been launched.

The local authority is working alongside Hiyacar and Transport Scotland for the scheme.

The pilot, funded by the Switched On Towns And Cities Challenge fund, will enable employees to access a car club vehicle for business use as part of their duties instead of their own private vehicle.

Led by mileage claim data analysis, availability of charging infrastructure across East Lothian, and projected demand from the general public, the council has identified five sites to host one car at each location.

As part of the pilot, the council would like to test making the cars available to members of the public to book during evenings, weekends and public holidays.

The cars will be available to rent by the general public via free app-based sign up.

'Exciting development'

Councillor John McMillan, cabinet spokesperson for environment, economic development and tourism, said: “The launch of the new electric vehicle car club pilot is an exciting development, building on East Lothian’s very strong track record of supporting the transition to an electric future.

“It recognises that the need to take positive action to address the challenges of climate change and reduce emissions has never been more important.

“As well as being available for council employees to use in the course of their duties, I’m pleased that members of the public will have the opportunity to sign up and benefit from use of the electric car club fleet.”

Driver licence verification is completed in minutes through the Hiyacar app, and cars can then be hired for as little as £4.50 per hour.

Hiyacar will also provide information on operating the model of car being hired, so that drivers can be confident they will be able to drive safely.

The council will receive revenue generated by trips undertaken at these times, with the car club operator receiving revenue from cars block-booked by the council for staff use during core business hours.

Vehicles will be available from the Port Seton Centre, Haddington’s long-stay car park at Tesco, Tranent’s Loch Centre, Prestonpans Community Centre and Dunbar’s Bleachingfield Centre.

'Affordable access'

The aim of the project is to reduce the council’s spending on both pool cars and mileage claims, while also reducing carbon and particulate emissions generated by staff when conducting council business. It will also provide the general public with affordable local access to zero emissions mobility at evenings and weekends.

Tony English, executive chair of Hiyacar, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with East Lothian Council to launch another low-emission car club.

“We’re excited to be offering yet more East Lothian residents affordable access to zero-emission vehicles.”

The Switched On Towns And Cities Challenge fund is administered by Transport Scotland.

The funding will allow the council to test an innovative approach to utilising pool cars, without incurring any costs at the pilot stage.

If it is determined that the approach has the potential to save money and significantly reduce emissions, the council will be able to make an informed decision about whether to continue with the new approach.

Go to hiyacar.co.uk for more information.