The newest vehicle which can be hired from Co-wheels Orkney is the 5 seater SUV style MGZSEV . It has double the range of the car clubs previous vehicle at Sommerville Square, Kirkwall, which its hoped will make it more attractive to use by the public.

Co Wheels Car Club, is a social enterprise run car share project and is working in Orkney in partnership with Orkney Housing Association (OHAL) and the Reflex Project with funding support from the Energy Savings Trust to encourage the uptake and use of Electric vehicles in the islands. Members of the public can join the car club for free and then access the cars for a small hourly hire charge.

Co Wheels has cars located at Sommerville Square, Kirkwall Pier and ORIC at the Old Academy, Stromness. 200 Orcadians have signed up for membership, several of whom live off Mainland and make use of the cars when they get the ferry across rather than bringing a car over on the ferry.

Sanday resident Paul Porter said:

“We find it a great service to use when we come over for shopping or to visit friends. I can pre book the car online or via an app on my phone and pick the car up from its parking bay with my member card used to unlock it rather than a set of keys.”

Co Wheels Scotland Manager, Tony Archer, commented:

“Our Orkney Car Club offers residents a new approach to use of the car in that you only need to pay to use when you need it rather than paying for it to sit unused a lot of the time on your driveway. That’s never been more important than just now with the cost-of-living rocketing using a car club car as your primary vehicle or perhaps instead of that second vehicle you keep can help cut your household budget”.

All Co Wheels cars on Orkney are EV as the company leads the way in EV car hire across the UK. Members on Orkney can also benefit from accessing Co Wheels cars in Aberdeen and other locations across the country meaning its

The new addition to the fleet is located at Sommerville Square. The previous vehicle there is to be sold within Orkney.

The Drop-In event held on Monday, 1st of August was livestreamed to The Orkney News Facebook page. Here is a recording of the livestream.