A CONVOY of electric vehicle drivers from 28 European countries are heading to the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Scotland today.
During the three-day trip, they’ll be calling on world leaders for much faster transport decarbonisation – globally fuelled by renewable energy.
They want to see all new cars and light duty vans sold to be either fully electric or hybrid by 2030.
The electric-vehicle procession’s backers also believe there should be 100 per cent zero-emission machines on the roads in all 28 countries in the Global EV Alliance by 2035.
On their way to Glasgow, EV drivers on the “Electric Road to COP26” will charge up with 100 per cent renewable electricity at the GRIDSERVE Electric Forecourt in Braintree, Essex.
GRIDSERVE’s pioneering Electric Forecourts and Electric Hubs are part of its Electric Highway, a UK-wide EV charging network powered by net zero carbon sustainable energy.
The next stop for EV drivers is myenergi in Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, where they will see some of the latest EV charging and zero-carbon home energy solutions.
Their route north will also take in the site in Northumberland where the Britishvolt EV battery gigafactory is being built to make sustainable batteries for electric vehicles.
The electric vehicle drivers will experience Scottish EV charging at Forth Valley College in Falkirk before ending up in Glasgow at the £5million Arnold Clark Innovation Centre, which is pioneering electric vehicle awareness and providing information on alternative fuels.
The centre has a range of more than 60 alternative-fuel vehicles from different manufacturers – including fully electric cars, plug-in hybrids, hybrids, and commercial vehicles –such as the Volkswagen ID.4, Mercedes EQC, MINI Electric, Hyundai Kona, Kia e-Niro, BMW X2, MG ZS and BMW i3.
Electric Vehicle Association Scotland director Neil Swanson said: “This gathering of so many electric vehicle motorists from all over Europe here in Scotland for COP26 sends a positive message to the world leaders that now is the time to step up their efforts in fully supporting the drive towards achieving significant reductions in global vehicle emissions.
“Electrically powered vehicles are already making significant improvements to air quality. Reducing vehicle emissions is now a major priority for the sake of the health of our planet.
“There is no better time than now, especially with COP26 here in Scotland, for us all to take even greater steps towards this objective of vastly increasing the number of electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes on our roads.”
