Pamela Barbato, founder of Action Net Zero Bristol, shatters myths around driving electric vehicles. She is working with partners across the city and the South West to educate and inform residents and businesses about the positives of being green

With COP26 around the corner and the IPCC report scientists announcing our planet’s temperature is definitely rising due to human behaviour, Pamela Barbato, the creator of Action Net Zero Bristol and its partners are urging people and businesses to switch to greener, cleaner transport. This includes switching to electric vehicles to reduce air pollution and cut emissions.

Pamela, who set up Action Net Zero Bristol to encourage and support the city’s residents and businesses to transition to greener behaviour, said: “Even with the alarming evidence that the climate emergency is upon us, it can be difficult to make changes in our own lives.

“However, we have to move towards net zero and the government wants all new domestic vehicles to be powered by renewable sources of power by 2030. Petrol and diesel vehicles are on their way out. This will involve making different choices around things like transport, power and food.

“Often these changes can actually save us money so our current campaign, ‘Bristol’s Driving Change’, backed by experts Good Energy, ALD Automotive, Rightcharge, Co Charger, Edwards and supported by TLT, Elmtronics and Business West are collectively exploding some myths around choosing an electric vehicle.”

Electric vehicles are increasing in popularity with around 260,000 in the UK according to the latest available data. Between 2016 and 2020, there has also been a 220 per cent increase in public charging points as the infrastructure continues to grow. It’s now far more common to see charging points in public car parks, large supermarket cars parks and motorway service stations and you can now share your neighbour’s charger too (with their permission of course).

Pam wants to explode some of the myths around driving electric vehicles, ie EVs:

Cannot do long journeys: There will not be enough charge for long journeys. The average mileage we all do each day is 20 miles. For longer journeys, you can open your EV app and plan a charging stop en route, usually to tie in with a comfort break.

EVs are unaffordable: EVs can be more expensive to buy outright if you are used to driving a smaller car however the running costs in tax, servicing, insurance and fuel are much lower. There are many leasing options and the car sector believes leasing will become increasingly common any way.

Electricity bills will rocket: On average to charge an EV overnight for a month will cost less than one tank of traditional petrol or diesel fuel. Also many renewable electricity providers offer “smart energy” tariffs where you charge up at optimum times of the day and night. These can save up to £500 a year on fuel bills.

The batteries are dangerous and could catch fire: The batteries are designed to be safe and are positioned in a place which is less vulnerable if a collision occurs. Also they are far less dangerous than having litres of highly flammable fuel in a fuel tank.

Read more: journalism.co.uk

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