Fever Gets Plugged In to Green Driving in London

This week saw the Fever team go electric as they kicked-off the consumer trials of the smart fortwo electric drive in London. Funded by the Government’s Technology Strategy Board, the nationwide trial is the first of its kind with over 340 electric vehicles being trialled on the UK roads. The programme sees 60 smart electric drives exclusively tested by residents in London and the South East for 12 months. A further 40 will be trialled by residents in the West Midlands – that’s next week’s event!

So back to this week, the team headed down to Potters Field by Tower Bridge at 6am, and after willing the rain to stop and the sun to come out we were ready for our photo call and media briefing. Motoring spokesperson and electric car fan Quentin Willson was on hand to give the keys to the first consumer, Nicola Giuggioli founder of Eco Age, an ethical store & green hub, alongside Kulveer Ranger, Transport Advisor to The Mayor Of London.

Following the photo call we hosted an intimate media briefing for green and eco bloggers in the smart cafe’ – a local cafe transformed for the day into a zen of eco calm. A panel of experts were on hand to provide a balanced debate around the future of electric vehicles – including Kulveer, Quentin, EDF and The Future Foundation (authors of the Plugged-In Report – our new research looking at the UKs perceptions to electric vehicles). The audience was guided around a variety of topics on electric vehicles as well  as the findings from the smart Plugged-In Report. They were then given the opportunity to ask questions to the panel and fuel the debate. Media in attendance included The Observer, electricpig.co.uk, Talk Talk, dothegreenthing.com and The Ecologist.

Coverage to date has appeared in The Daily Express print and online, Guardian online, Independent.co.uk, Talk Talk, metro.co.uk, Sky News Online as well as radio interviews syndicated over 15o stations – with plenty more to follow as we get media out and about in the smart fortwo electric cars…

If you want to see what it was all about check out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=208YJ0RKx04