Footloose 4×4 Is Going Green

Footloose 4×4 is actually about to embark into new territory themselves as they have recently joined forces with pioneering company GoinGreen, and will be opening up the first retail unit and service centre for electric vehicles in Peterborough. GoinGreen bill themselves as a one- stop shop for electric vehicle transport solutions, with over 30 products ranging from electric bicycles right through to electric trucks. The company started in London in 2002, and have since sold over 1400 G-Wiz electric cars. Having decided it was time to expand the business to other cities, GoinGreen was attracted to Peterborough’s ambition to become the greenest city in the UK (the city council has stated its aims to become the UK’s Environment Capital).

At first glance, this partnership seems incredibly odd: what on earth do big 4×4 Land Rovers and Toyotas have in common with the greenest vehicles on the market? Managing Director of GoinGreen, Ian Hobday, sheds some light on the unlikely union: “We have a number of criteria that are very important to us as we roll the franchise out. The first is an amazing level of customer service and that is absolutely the case here. These guys do an incredible job. Nothing’s too much trouble – delivering cars at midnight, going out to customers at the weekend, every customer we talked to here said I’m in love with these guys! The next thing that’s very important is a level of knowledge about electric systems. You wouldn’t imagine that could be the case here, but it is because one of the things these guys do is build overland expedition products with 240V and 12V systems that enable people to use satellite navigation, mobile phones, laptop computers, do their cooking and so on. It’s actually an incredibly complex system inside the vehicles.”

Another key link is Dave himself. Having spent four years in Peterborough Council as the chair of the Environmental Scrutiny committee, he is pretty clued up on green issues – a rather unique combination of petrol head and environmentalist! It was actually Dave who got in touch with GoinGreen and convinced them that Peterborough was the perfect destination, and he’s very excited by the new venture.

It’s all seemed to culminate together quite nicely for me! I’ve had to drag a few of the guys along going ‘this is the future’, but now that they’ve actually had a go in the vehicles, they think they’re brilliant!

Having been given a chance to take a spin in the Mia myself, an electric car designed for urban driving with a range of 80 miles, I was able to see where the enthusiasm for electric cars came from. Smooth, quiet and surprisingly zippy, it also has a really quirky interior: a 3–seater in triangular formation giving the driver a central position and passengers a luxurious amount of legroom (think Total Recall with the robot operated taxi). And, being a girl, I have to mention the ultra-cute flower shaped buttons that operate the sliding doors – handles are so 2011.

The Mia, as with all electric vehicles, does come with a pretty hefty price tag, retailing at £19,950. However, after the initial outlay, the financial savings are actually worth looking into. It takes 7-9 hours to charge the vehicle from a standard 32 Amp house circuit (recommended overnight on low cost economy 7 energy) which costs the equivalent of just 10-20% of a full tank of petrol at only £0.80p per 62 miles (depending on the cost of electricity). So, for the price of two full tanks of fuel (at an estimated £40 per tank), you can cover 6,200 miles – which could be a year’s mileage for some people. Factoring in other benefits like no road tax and minimal servicing requirements, it starts to make economic sense, without even touching on the environmental benefits. And in 3-5 years, Ian is certain that the headline price will have dropped to more affordable levels as the volume of product increases which will make it an even more viable option. Ian is the first person to admit that, at this stage, electric vehicles would not fit everyone’s lifestyle, and he concludes by saying

Today’s Electric Vehicles are the perfect solution for daily urban and suburban driving, taking your children to school each day, going to work, doing the shopping. Once people understand what’s really possible with EVs we will be changing people’s mindsets

Between them, Footloose 4×4 and GoinGreen intend to do just that.

The new franchise will officially launch early next year, with the retail unit located just around the corner from Footloose 4×4.

Footloose 4×4

Unit 1
Woodston Business Centre
Shrewsbury Avenue
Woodston
Peterborough
PE2 7EF

01733 362 999 

www.footloose4x4.com

Contact details for GoinGreen

020 8574 3232 

www.goingreen.co.uk