On 24 May, over twenty guests from around Oxfordshire and further afield came together at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, to celebrate a year-long, multi-operator pilot of electric car clubs in market towns and villages across the county.

In just twelve months, the shared EVs put over 165,000 electric miles on the clock – saving 36 tons of CO2eq (almost 8 Olympic sized swimming pools) compared to if those miles driven in the average petrol car. The shared EVs are already spending an average of 12% of their time in motion – compared to 4% for the average private vehicle. More efficient and intensive use of EVs means fewer EVs are needed for people to get around, which at 100 kg CO2eq per kWh of battery capacity manufactured, means even more emissions savings!

The clubs also attracted almost 1,000 new car club members / users and more than 3,000 individual hiring sessions in shared EVs outside Oxford City, with some members / users reporting that they have been able to reduce their household car ownership as a result.

Thus, despite doubts about viability outside cities, two of the car club operators believe that a dozen shared EVs will continue to operate in the various towns and villages indefinitely – and there has been discussion about expansion.

And with officers from Buckinghamshire, Kent, and Suffolk in attendance, as well as a high turnout from the Councillors, officers, and operators involved in the Oxfordshire pilot, there’s plenty of interest in the potential of electric car clubs in rural areas.

Considering that cars and vans are responsible for 30-50% of CO2 emissions in rural districts of the UK and public transport in such places is often limited, electric car clubs could offer rural residents a more affordable, efficient and environmentally friendly way to drive an EV. Yet there have been doubts about whether those rural residents will be interested, whether car clubs are viable to operate outside cities, and if there are any unintended long-term impacts.

The Oxfordshire pilot shows that at least in terms of interest and viability, the answer in some of the locations was definitely yes! Indeed, the evaluation findings of the pilot that my policy partner from Oxfordshire County Council, Jenny Figueiredo, and I presented at the celebratory event were based on annualised figures. Utilisation at the more successful locations grew over the course of the year, so in those cases, it’s only getting better!

The carbon savings are also likely an underestimate, as operators were using cleaner than average energy at the local charging hubs and from off-grid sources. In terms of the former, over 10% of energy sold at some of the hubs over the course of the year was to the car clubs – showing that, especially in less densely-populated areas, charge point and car club operation – and business cases – can be complementary.

That said, it is important to caveat that the car clubs in some locations were withdrawn, and we don’t fully understand the place-specific barriers and success factors, business models and narratives needed to meaningfully scale EV sharing in the countryside.

Our attendees agreed that funding, raising awareness, and further research was needed, but they were also incredibly positive about the potential of rural electric car clubs. From accelerating decarbonisation to financial opportunities for both operators and households, the future of electric car clubs in our market towns and villages is looking bright!