Our Green Pledge

Two Rolec 32 amp electric vehicle charging points were installed in 2022 to be used by guests via the VendElectric app. If you use an electric or hybrid electric car to get to us and to tour the area, we will supply you with a full charge for a small fee. Please note that you will need to bring your own lead. We have also been using an electric car ourselves since 2019 and will be replacing all site vehicles and tools with electric rechargeable units when the time comes for new ones or when it is practical and cost effective to do so.

There is lots of negative and misleading information about Electric vehicles, but once you know some facts and understand that the majority of the population drives an average of 50 miles or less per day, the decision to drive an electric car is simple and cost effective.

An electric vehicle (EV) is on average twice as efficient as a vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE), so a vehicle with an ICE will use twice as much energy (derived from petrol or diesel) to go the same distance as an EV. For the average driver, this translates to significant cost savings over time. A full charge (from empty) of our electric vehicle at home would cost around £12 giving us 250-300 miles of range depending on weather and driving conditions. A single gallon (5 litres) of petrol or diesel costs around £10, would take the most efficient new ICE cars just 50-60 miles and would also be affected by weather and driving conditions.

In our case because all of our electricity comes from our solar panels or other renewable sources, our full charge didn’t produce any harmfull CO2 emmisions when it was created or when it is used. By contrast, the fossil fuel used in an ICE emits CO2 and other substances as owners go about their daily business, but must first be drilled, transported and refined by drilling platforms, enormous floating tankers and massive industrial refineries that all constantly belch CO2, before being transported again by smaller tankers to petrol stations with all of their lights and pumps often using power 24hrs a day.

Someone smarter than us has done the actual calculations on this, needless to say driving a vehicle is only part of the problem, swapping to an EV will help reduce much of the CO2 producing infrastructure behind the scenes as well as while you drive.

By way of balance, we appreciate that not everyone can charge an EV at home although more and more chargers are being installed in residential streets, at work places and in many other locations all around the country, including many garage forecourts. We know that some people do need to drive hundreds of miles per day and the average range of an EV isn’t enough for them yet, but this is rapidly improving as battery technology develops. We know that the price of a new EV is slightly higher than a comparable new ICE, but as more EVs become available, the price will continue to drop and they are much cheaper to run saving money longer term. As time progresses, a second hand EV market will also emerge bringing cost of ownership down further and please don’t be mislead by the claim that EV batteries need to be replaced every 3 years as this is simply not true. Yes, they will slightly degrade as they get older in the same way that a regular vehicle engine gets less efficient, but their expected life is at least 10 years which is actually longer than the average ICE!