Sustainable Harwell car-club survey finds that responders have a high level of interest in the idea of joining a scheme in the village.
Here is a summary of the results of Sustainable Harwell’s recent survey about setting up a community car sharing scheme using EV’s (electric vehicles) in the village. It is the first stage of a wider project, funded by The Vale’s Climate Action Fund, to consider the options of such a scheme in more detail.
Although Sustainable Harwell does not currently have the resources to run a car-sharing scheme itself, we hope these survey results will provide valuable insight about the suitability of a scheme in Harwell. They will also inform the next steps of the project which include further examination of the economics of running a scheme in the village.
As the UK transitions to net-zero to meet its climate change obligations significant changes are needed. At a village level the community has an opportunity to play its part. The electrification of transport is underway, but many people have yet to make the transition to EVs.
Setting up a car-sharing scheme using EVs potentially offers people a local alternative to car ownership making it easier for people to transition to EVs, save carbon and reduce costs.
Given this situation we wanted to understand the potential for running a scheme in Harwell and to help with this task we received a grant from The Vale of The White Horse Climate Action Fund to explore the possibility in more detail.
The first part of the project was to survey Harwell residents to understand their views on a community car sharing scheme in the village.
An anonymous survey was run during the summer of 2023. The survey was advertised widely using email, social media and local posters. 93 people registered their views.
The headline survey findings below will help guide additional stages of the project over the coming months.
Survey Headlines
- There is good interest in a possible community car club in Harwell with a significant majority (73%) of survey respondents saying they are interested in the idea, and two thirds of respondents expecting to use the scheme at least once a month.
- A wide range of reasons were given by people to support their interest, including: reducing their carbon footprint (49%), trying an electric car, (46%) reducing ownership from two cars to one (32%) .
- Almost everyone responding to the survey has at least 1 car (93%). A sizable majority of respondents (62%) have 2 or more cars, which indicates there is good potential for carbon reduction and lower household costs if club users reduce down to 1 car.
- A significant percentage of respondents (40%) use their second car 3 or less times a week. This indicates that many people might consider moving from 2 car ownership to one to save carbon and reduce costs.
- Most people (88%) are prepared to walk up to 10 minutes from home to pick up a club vehicle. This indicates that if the car club was sited centrally most people in the village would be prepared to walk to it.
- A large majority (72%) of respondents listed the Village Hall as a potential site for the scheme, with The Harwellian listed as the second most preferred option (37%).
NB Percentages in headline points 2-6 are percentages of respondents who are interested in the idea.
Leave a Reply