READERS contemplating buying a fully electric car might like to hear the experience of someone who has been driving one for close on two years.

There are huge advantages. Having no gears means that it is incredibly simple to drive and it is much easier in stop start traffic or on winding hilly North Yorkshire Roads. There is a lot less noise and many fewer parts to go wrong.

The main advantage is, however, cost. I drove 10,000 miles last year and by charging at home in the early hours of the morning when electricity is cheap I saved over £2,500. That means that there is already a reasonably rapid payback for the extra capital cost and that cost is coming down fast.

Charging on a long journey is more costly but still cheaper than petrol and to date I have found it incredibly quick and easy to charge up at places like motorway service stations at times when I would have stopped anyway for a break or a coffee. On an occasion when I had not got time to stop, I managed a 250 mile journey in winter with 4 people and luggage and got back with 20 miles of charge left.

Not filling up with petrol also saved me a lot of time in queues as it is incredibly simple to just plug into the wall when getting home. The planet also gains from all that fossil fuel that isn’t used. There is plenty of spare wind power capacity on the grid in the early hours of the morning.

There are, of course, even more gains from as many journeys as possible happening by public transport and an efficient and frequent bus or train service makes big inroads into traffic congestion. Whilst many journeys in areas of the Dales that are badly served by public transport depend on cars, I strongly recommend anyone considering purchasing a car to go electric.

The gains aren’t just for the planet – there are good solid service and cost gains for the user which are often seriously misrepresented.

Cllr Andy Brown (Green Party)

Cononley