Environmental transport NGO Carplus released its annual survey on 26 April, which showed that in 2015 car club membership in Scotland grew by nearly 20% to 9,000 members, using 324 cars. Car club cars are booked online and hired by the hour or day.
In general, Scottish car club members are early adopters, says Carplus. Over 90% have smartphones and over 25% of them access transport apps on a daily basis. They are interested in driving electric vehicles.
Around 1,000 Scottish drivers were introduced to driving electric vehicles this year.
Over 20% of the car club fleet in Scotland is electric, and the first hydrogen vehicles have been introduced to the fleet in Aberdeen.
A mountain biker quoted by the organisation used an electric van for a trip to the Cairngorms: “We arrived in Aberdeen on a sunny afternoon. We found our van in its parking bay, and the adventure could begin. My key card worked on the windscreen, just as it was supposed to, the van was mine to drive!”
“You just put your foot down and glide off, with hardly a murmur. Sitting in traffic, there’s no idling. The engine is stopped and you’re not wasting power. Apart from the strange quiet, it was a nice nippy little van that was good to drive in traffic.”
There are further benefits of car clubs. On joining a car club, Scottish members reduce their annual mileage by an average of 967 miles. In 2015 Scottish car club members drove over 8 million miles less after joining the car club – over 300 times round the world.
Each car club car replaces at least 8 privately owned vehicles, freeing up space on congested streets. That means that 1,200 cars were taken off the roads because of Scottish car club members.
Download the Carplus Annual Survey for Scotland.
