Just the other day I was speaking with my brother, who lives with his family, in an area of London, near the Twickenham Rugby Stadium. He recently came across a website called JustPark. The site makes it easy for him to rent his driveway on an hourly basis, to anybody who might need this highly desirable London parking spot (in this case, most likely, rugby fans attending nearby games).
“That’s pretty cool”, I thought to myself, “great idea”. But then came the real clincher…
As he was filling out the form, he came across a checkbox that asked if he’d like to get a free vehicle charge point worth £1500 (about $2300). He checked the box.
Fifteen minutes later he got a call from Office for Low Emission Vehicles. They were calling to schedule the appointment to install his charger. Two days later, my brother was the proud owner of a shiny new electric vehicle charging station!
Now – my brother doesn’t own an electric vehicle… yet. But I am struck at how clever this policy is, at so many levels. Consider that…
- He’s motivated to accept the charger because it makes his driveway more attractive to more prospective renters
- Electric car drivers are encouraged because there are more chargers in more places
- When my brother buys his next car, he’s more likely to consider buying an electric car because one of the barriers (installing the charger) has been removed
- My brother’s home value is increased
- The government’s goal of proliferating electric cars is served
I love it when governments do things that just make so much sense!