Who are we?
James
I’m a petrol head turned EV advocate and enthusiast. Over the last decade I have been fortunate enough to own a few of my childhood dream cars, including a Mercedes 190e Cosworth and a BMW M3. I now drive a Renault Zoe!
How did I get into electric vehicles?
As a qualified electrician, back in 2012, I was working for a Solar PV company. We installed a solar carport at our headquarters, with two electric vehicle charging points. I had a fully electric Renault Kangoo ZE as my work van, which was a fantastic early introduction to electric vehicles.
We were one of the first companies in the country to be OLEV accredited and install charge points under the government grant scheme. I’m still a fully qualified electrician, and since then I have installed hundreds of electric vehicle charging points for homes and businesses across the country.
Why sell electric cars?
My wife and I owned and loved a BMW M3, but we were doing less than 5,000 miles a year in it, and spending more than £2,000 a year in maintenance and running costs.
Something had to be done. This kind of motoring was not sustainable. The M3 had to go.
Having used an electric work van and seen many electric cars in my day job, I thought they must by now be getting down to an affordable price second hand. True enough they were.
We always liked the look of the Renault Zoe, it was small and fun to drive. We found online what looked like a good used Zoe from a dealer in Lincolnshire and gave them a call. They put me through to their “EV Specialist” who after a few minutes on the phone was clearly not interested in answering my questions, and didn’t give me any confidence in what I was buying.
Anyway, the car was a good price for the mileage and spec, and I knew what we were buying, so we bought it online and had it delivered. It was in excellent condition as described and we have been very happy with it.
Unfortunately this is a story I have heard all too often from new EV owners. There is a real lack of enthusiasm and knowledge about EV’s from many established dealers.
Andy
Also a self confessed vehicle enthusiast, I've arrived at the same place as James in a slightly different way.
A long time ago I had a huge desire to build a kit car - ideally Lotus Seven style (if you don't know what that is think Caterham/Westfield!) - with a bike engine (essentially something that revved really high and made lots of noise). Even back then in the mid 2000's I thought to myself that I really needed to get on and build a car because at some point it's not going to be practical/allowed to do something like that with a conventional engine (that pumped out lots of pollution and burned a fossil fuel). I remember worrying that I if I didn't do it sooner rather than later I might never get to 'enjoy' that noisy, high-revving engine in my own kit car because the choice to do so might be taken away from me.
Well, we aren't quite yet at that stage of banning the building of cars with internal combustion engines (roll on 2040) but over the years (whilst procrastinating and never getting around to building a kit car) I've actually come to realise that I no longer want to build that kit car with an internal combustion engine. It no longer makes sense to me. In effect I've implemented my own personal ban on internal combustion engines!
I've talked myself out of building that kit car for a few reasons, the primary reason being pollution and wanting to reduce it. I don't want to see our planet polluted unnecessarily and the switch to EVs will contribute greatly to reducing global pollution levels. If that reason isn't enough on it's own then the performance available from a electric motor is another worthy reason to switch to an EV - the instant response when you press the 'go' pedal is quite addictive. And a third reason - economy. It's considerably cheaper to 'fuel' an EV than a conventional combustion engine vehicle.
So I now dream of building an electric kit car, no longer a Lotus Seven style though, nope. my ambitions have changed! Now it's an electric off road vehicle. And one day I may just get around to doing it (though I'd advise against any holding of breath for your own safety).
What motivates us?
We truly believe that electric vehicles are the way forward. Driving an EV rather than a petrol or diesel has a positive effect on our air quality, even more so if you are using renewable energy like solar PV to charge up!
EV’s have been on our roads for a fair few years now, and are proving to be genuinely reliable. With far fewer moving parts than a comparable petrol or diesel vehicle, it’s not surprising.
We Are EV are here to help fill the knowledge gap in this rapidly changing industry. We aim to give our customers complete peace of mind when buying a used EV, knowing they have everything they need for enjoyable EV ownership.