The people are the energy that make this happen. The cars are how people get from a to b. The cars need to be somewhere people can get them. That place needs to be able to power the cars.
The EV market is rapidly evolving. Depending on the grant or financing you get, you are unlikely to be able to afford the newest cars. The good news is that the secondhand EV market is also evolving.
You will need 2 cars to start off. A single car can easily be booked when you need it and anything that interferes with the sense of convenience will be an obstacle to adoption. Keep in mind also that each car could need up to 2 or 2 and a half hours to get back to a full charge so the “shadow” in which a single car operation would be out of action could be large chunks of the day.
Model: When looking for a car for your car club it is worth thinking of a model that is well tested and has a community around it. Both Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe have been on the market for a few years and have active forums of users and mechanics that can usually help resolve many of the minor concerns so you will not have to waste your mechanics time (or your money on a mechanic). They are also probably the electric vehicles that break down and mechanics will be most familiar with as the most popular. Though it is worth having a chat with your local mechanic to see if they have a particular experience with a model of car.
Range: Range used to be the biggest concern people had when speaking about electric vehicles. The truth is new models are able to reach impressive distances without need for a recharge, and this is only getting better. However, unless you have a great deal, it is unlikely you will be acquiring the latest models. Figuring out exactly what suits you best will depend on the results of your survey and your local knowledge.
We bought 2 cars:
The vast majority of the journeys our users undertake are below 70 miles, with the average at 49 miles return. The additional range is unnecessary for most of those journeys. For a while the longer-range car was getting far more bookings than the other car and on one occasion a user who wanted to do a 280-mile round trip journey had to borrow the vehicle with a shorter range because the other one was occupied. However, we swapped the cars locations around, and asked our members to be considerate and only use the large range if they needed it or the other wasn’t available, at utilization is coming closer to the same for both.
We do have a few long range drives every month, these are by committed users who have become adept at negotiating the charging infrastructure of the world at large – namely through zapmap.
Location:
Knowing your area and establishing good working relationships with your stakeholders will be essential to securing the right locations for your cars. If there is an appropriate central location (or central to your user base – people are reluctant to walk further than 10/15 minutes for regular usage) you could have both cars in one location. This would save you on the installation costs of the charging infrastructure.
In our case, we have 2 locations, to make life easy to 2 population and use centers. One is in the car park of Wiltshire Council’s Nadder community center at the top of the hill. It is in easy reach of the two residential areas there and the other car is at the bottom of the hill in the Village Car park, just off the high street and in proximity to the 2 other main residential areas. The distance (and gradient) of the journey seems to have a bigger impact on car choice than the range of the car.
You have to reach an agreement with the owner of the land to let you install charging infrastructure and take up one or 2 car parking spots. This is easier in our experience if it is a council with a climate and transport interest. Funders may also want to know that any infrastructure they pay for will remain in place for the long term and this is easier to guarantee with council owned property.
Try to make it a visible place so that users feel safe returning at night, and so that the car itself constantly acts as an advert for itself.
If the parking spot is on a public road, this could slow the process as permissions for road markings can take a while.
It is essential that the location has access to 3 phase electricity. Without access to 3 phase electrical supply, you will not be able to install a charger with the capacity required to charge your car up quickly.