A fleet of electric buggies has launched on the streets of west London, with the company behind them hoping to expand across the capital.
There are currently ten Yo-Go buggies which are being operated as part of a “world-first” trial in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.
The buggies are the latest addition to London’s growing market of dockless, rental e-vehicles - which until now had been limited to e-bikes and e-scooters.
But the new vehicles were not designed to directly compete with those bikes and scooters.
“What we’re hoping is that they’ll be more of a replacement for cars,” said Yo-Go’s CEO, Dr Sam Bailey.
“Car usage in London is quite weird. Most of the journeys are under three miles, people popping out and about… There’ll be a reason they don’t want to cycle - it will be because they don’t want to get wet, or they think it’s dangerous.
“What we want to do is create something that feels more familiar, feels like driving something - where you’ve got a seat-belt, you’ve got a roll cage, you’ve got a roof, somewhere you can put some luggage - so that it’s sort of an easier swap, if you’re a car user, to move to something like this.”
The vehicles cost 20p a minute to drive or only 10p a minute if the driver takes out a £10 monthly subscription.
For insurance-related reasons, drivers must be between the ages of 25 and 70, and have held a UK or EU driving licence for over two years.
Dr Bailey said the company had been working “very closely” with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which has essentially granted their vehicles free parking across the borough.
Yo-Go will be monitoring how people use the buggies and what feedback is provided by users, though Dr Bailey said that the reception so far has been “insanely positive”.
After increasing the size of the fleet in Hammersmith and Fulham, the company hopes to expand into other parts of the city.
It is thought that the golf buggies, which have a maximum speed of roughly 20mph, are the first of their kind to be trialled on the streets of a major city.
“We’re fairly confident we’re a world-first,” said Dr Bailey. “There are places you can go to which are golf-buggy only, where you’re on a resort somewhere, [for example] the big resorts in Florida where you park your car at the entrance and then drive around in a golf buggy.
“Part of the idea was, why couldn’t you make London feel more like that? Where you’re sharing the road with pedestrians, why can’t you make it nicer for them by making the vehicles less noisy, less polluting and less dangerous for them?
“The more vehicles you have that are like this, the more pleasant the roads become for everyone.”
A spokesman for Hammersmith and Fulham Council said: “These innovative electric buggies are another first for Hammersmith and Fulham as they offer residents and businesses an affordable, eco-friendly alternative.
“We welcome this pilot as we work to make local journeys cheaper, greener and more convenient.”
The trial has also been warmly received by the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan. A spokeswoman for the mayor said: “We welcome new micro-mobility options in London, especially those that encourage Londoners to use their cars less or switch to cleaner modes of transport.
“It’s good to see boroughs innovating in this way and trialling new options and we will await the data and outcomes with interest.”
