One thing struck me just the other day…

Golf clubs have been operating fleets of electric vehicles for years.

I used to play regularly before the kids arrived, but I was in my 20’s so never thought to use one.

To be honest I’ve not played since, as it takes up a full day and I can’t justify it to the wife and kids. You see, the truth is, the wife thinks a round of golf spoils a good walk.

The thought about golf clubs and electric vehicles only arose when my father-in-law mentioned he uses one from time to time, depending which course he’s playing.

But if you think about it, they’ve had fleets of electric golf buggies for years.

The golf buggies are out all day transporting the players, and come back in the evening to plug-in and charge whilst the golf club members are sleeping.

Yes, your right, battery technology has been lagging behind, with the available range not enough for people to trust the technology in cars and vans.

Range though, is no longer an issue, with BMW launching electric cars that will do over 400-mile on a full battery, and other manufacturers following with their own long range electric vehicles.

But let’s face it, most of us do less than 50-mile a day.

If fact, the RAC released 3-year study on UK driving behaviour, which states each person (on average) only travels 28-mile a day.

Yes, they are people doing long distance commutes who will need the longer range vehicles, and will need to plan their journeys to tie in with available public rapid chargers, using Zap Map or similair.

But in the main, most of the population (probably the 80 / 20 rule) will only need a vehicle with a range of 100 – 200 miles. As they’ll simply top up the battery at night, whilst sleeping or whilst at work.

Coupled with a good selection of entry level electric cars entering the market around the £20K mark, buying an EV on a 3 – 5 year PCP (personal contract plan) is close to parity (due to strong residual values of electric cars) when comparing against combustion engines on the same plan.

Throw into the mix the savings on fuel (currently circa 70%) and the lower ongoing maintenance costs, there has never been a better time to switch to an electric vehicle.

We can certainly learn a thing or two from golf clubs who’ve been running fleets of EVs for years.