The Electric Road to COP26 showcases UK companies leading the green industrial revolution
Representatives of Electric Vehicle Drivers’ Associations from a range of European countries will be heading to the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to support the call for much faster transport decarbonisation globally fuelled by renewable energy.
En route they will visit GRIDSERVE, myenergi and Britishvolt before heading to the Arnold Clark Innovation Centre in Glasgow. At COP26 they will be calling for all sales of new cars and light duty vans to have a plug by 2030 and to be 100% zero emission by 2035 at the latest in the 28 countries represented in the Global EV Drivers’ Alliance (GEVA).
The EV drivers on the Electric Road to COP26 will charge up with 100% renewable electricity at the GRIDSERVE Electric Forecourt in Essex on the morning of Friday 29 October. GRIDSERVE’s pioneering Electric Forecourts and Electric Hubs are part of GRIDSERVE’s Electric Highway, a UK-wide EV charging network powered by net zero carbon sustainable energy. GRIDSERVE is offering EV test drives for the public at its Electric Forecourt in Braintree over the weekend.
The next stop for the EV drivers is myenergi in Grimsby where they will be able to see some of the latest EV charging and zero carbon home energy solutions. myenergi designs and manufactures eco home smart tech including the best-selling electric vehicle charger, the zappi.
The European drivers will then stop at the Britishvolt battery Gigaplant site in Northumberland where construction started on 6 September on the first full-scale battery manufacturing of its kind in the country. The facility will produce low carbon, sustainable battery cells initially for electric vehicles.
Simultaneously a few miles away at the aptly-named Blyth Battery, members of the public can sign up for test drives of electric cars with Octopus Electric Vehicles and meet motoring journalist Quentin Willson who will be debunking popular EV myths with Octopus Energy CEO Fiona Howarth.
This split-site event will allow EV driver club members to park on the site in Cambois and see first-hand the sheer scale of the 93 hectare plot of land.
The drivers will experience Scottish EV charging at Forth Valley College in Falkirk before ending up in Glasgow itself at the Arnold Clark Innovation Centre.
The EV drivers are heading to COP26 in Glasgow in order to:
- support the call for much faster transport decarbonisation globally
- increase the public’s awareness of the benefits of EVs for the environment and health, reducing carbon emissions and helping to improve air quality
- promote the voice of EV driver associations globally working with GEVA.
Transportation accounts for 24% of direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion globally, of which road vehicles account for nearly 75%. GEVA is calling for action now to shift from vehicles burning fossil fuels to vehicles running on clean, renewable electricity. A rapid shift to zero emission electric transport is currently being achieved in many countries and can be accelerated through supportive policies.
The Electric Road to COP26 is being organised by EVA England, EVA Scotland, GEVA and local EV Groups (NEXUS). Octopus Electric Vehicles is providing EVs for driving opportunities at some of the locations on the route. Planet Mark’s Zero Carbon Tour Bus will join the Electric Road in Glasgow.
Quentin Willson, motoring journalist, said: “This is a hugely exciting moment in time, we are clearly at the tipping point of EV adoption. The tectonic plates are shifting. The road trip highlights the sheer excitement around both COP26 and the overall energy transition. It also flags some of the key names leading the UK on the roadmap to a sustainable future.”
Image: courtesy evaengland.org.uk