A concerted effort to tackle climate change will see a North Yorkshire town host a major event promoting electric vehicles and green energy.
Harrogate has a burgeoning reputation for putting on high profile events that grab the public’s attention and between 24 and 26 May it will be the base for Everything Electric North, dubbed the world’s number one home energy and electric vehicle show.
The event is being held at the Yorkshire Event Centre at the Great Yorkshire Showground and we will be represented, with our electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure officer set to be a member of two panels of experts.
The panels will debate whether electric vehicle charging at work and destinations should be standard practice and whether people really need a driveway to own an electric car.
Assistant director for highways and transport, Barrie Mason, said: “More and more people are turning to electric vehicles as ways of driving down the cost of motoring and helping the environment and North Yorkshire is no exception.
“Harrogate, in particular, has shown a steady month-on-month increase in the number of charging sessions since the EV infrastructure became live at the beginning of last year.
“Our aim is to encourage more people to make the move to electric vehicles and our infrastructure rollout is an important part of convincing people across the county that there is a dependable, viable alternative to petrol and diesel.”
A key focus for the council is the move away from petrol and diesel vehicles towards more sustainable forms of transport and the authority's presence at such a prestigious show is indicative of this aim.
A major part of the North Yorkshire Local Transport Plan (LTP), the council’s electric vehicle infrastructure rollout strategy, is a commitment to deliver EV infrastructure across England’s largest county.
To encourage greater use of electric cars in the Harrogate area, there are currently 133 electric vehicle charging units, 74 of which are in the town itself.
In 2023, there were almost 11,000 charging sessions recorded, with a further 3,520 up to the end of February.
This means that 340,770 miles were travelled by electric vehicles which used these facilities last year, with a further 123,475 miles covered up to the end of last month.
In total, this has saved more than 175 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
This is the second consecutive year that Everything Electric North will be held at the Yorkshire Event Centre, and its 15th exhibition around the world.
The event’s chief executive, Dan Caesar, said: “The centre was a natural choice as a venue that offered a beautiful indoor and outdoor setting for our 'festival of electrification', suitability for a major test drive programme, and its central location to give access to the North, Midlands and Scotland.
“The response last year was incredibly positive, and the upcoming show is expected to be bigger still. The venue and location received a huge thumbs-up from our audience.
“We display electric vehicles of all shapes and sizes from micro-mobility options like bikes and boards, up to trucks and tractors, but the centrepiece is an array of hundreds of electric cars and thousands of test drives.
“North Yorkshire has given us a huge welcome, and is for many of our audience and customers, the favourite of our shows across the globe.”
See information on tickets and exhibiting for Everything Electric North.