Going green: ​Facts to help decide whether to go electric

You are right to question the spread of electric vehicles (EVs) but I want to reassure they are definitely a great choice, particularly second-hand EVs.

A new investigation by One Home has found there are “EV deserts” that exist mostly in the North of England, while the greatest areas of pure EV car registrations are in the South.

We found stark and worrying differences emerging in less affluent parts of northern England where EV registration figures are incredibly low.

One Home asked the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to send us data outlining the number of pure electric cars registered to every postcode area of the UK under the Freedom of Information Act. We then compiled a list of the top 20 “EV deserts”.

Of the 20 areas with the fewest registered electric cars, 75 per cent are in the North of England, including Blackpool which only has 2,244 registered electric cars despite having a population of 279,731.

The league tables highlighted that Oldham has only 3,186 registered EVs despite having a population of 493,584. The bottom twenty places (excluding London) based on registration numbers and the relative size of the population for England and Wales are; Oldham, Sunderland, Liverpool, Hull, Wolverhampton, Carlisle, Teeside, Llandudno, Plymouth, Blackburn, Llandrindod, Wigan, Wakefield, Halifax, Manchester, Lancaster, Dudley, Blackpool, Cardiff and Walsall.

Our data showed EV hotspots were concentrated in the South of England, with areas south of Nottingham making up 14 of the top 20 registration postcodes. However, it’s worth noting there are a considerable number of lease cars registered in some of these postcodes that will be driven throughout the country but are ‘owned’ by the fleet company based there.

At One Home we believe that pure electric cars (ones which have an electric battery as their only power source) are the future of motoring.

Not only can they help drivers to lower their carbon footprint but they also reduce levels of air pollution in towns and cities right across the UK, ensuring cleaner air for everybody and helping to reduce motoring costs. Some second hand EVs are now comparable to polluting petrol and diesel cars in terms of price and will have lower running costs.

It’s encouraging to see that the number of pure EV cars on UK roads has increased by almost 15 per cent since 2023 and numbers this year have surpassed the one million milestone – 1,121, 001 to be precise.

Our report highlights that they must be made attractive for more people. When you consider the transport sector is UK’s biggest source of carbon emissions, we think there’s an urgency to help consumers make the switch so we can reduce toxic pollution. Which is why I believe the Chancellor needs to scrap or delay plans to impose road tax on all EVs.

Celebrity spot

Fat Friends and Gavin and Stacey actress Alison Steadman has spoken up about supermarkets using plastic packaging. The 78-year-old actress said: “I haven’t knowingly used a plastic bag for at least 18 years. I used to spend hours emailing Tesco and Sainsbury’s saying ‘Why are you using plastic bags in your packaging?’ My son said to me ‘Mum, they’re not taking any notice, they don’t even read those emails.’ I still despair but now I just do as many petitions as I can.”

Green swap

Swap clingfilm for plates. Rather than use clingfilm or sealable bags for food, leave it in the plate or bowl it’s been served in and once cooled, place another plate or bowl on top.

Go green save cash by dehumidifying your home

Sales of dehumidifiers have increased as cash-strapped Brits across the country opt to stop using their tumble dryers amid the cost-of-living crisis.

With warm summer sunshine feeling like a thing of the past, there’s a lot more drying inside the home going on than on the washing line.

Dehumidifiers extract water from the air, they cost just 5p an hour to use, whereas tumble dryers can cost upwards of 85p an hour.

I have a friend who has used hers to dry clothes for a couple of years now and she swears by it as well as taking any moisture out the atmosphere in her house, which reduces condensation and helps prevent mould growth, which is a necessity for her as one of her children has asthma that’s often exacerbated in winter.

Heated clothes horses are a popular choice for many households with the tower airers being a popular choice for optimising space and speed for drying. However, heated airers still release moisture into the atmosphere, increasing condensation and some can dry the clothes quite unevenly as the bar is the hot part. Dehumidifiers will help reduce mould growth in your home, as well as drying your clothes so there’s extra benefits to them.

Four in ten households in the UK put on four or more loads of washing every week which means there’s a lot of wet clothes that need to be dried so while a dehumidifier is a great option, it’s also worth thinking about how many washes you put on and at what temperature.

I wash everything unless it’s badly stained in 30 degrees or less – it’s better for the environment and this uses less energy so helps cut costs as well. I also don’t wash clothes after one wear (except socks and underwear of course) unless they are dirty or smelly. If there’s just a small stain, try simply rubbing with a wet cloth rather than putting in the washing basket.

If your kids are prone to putting things in the wash rather than hanging them up or putting it back in their drawer too, have a chat with them about the importance of reducing how much your washing machine gets put on. Or better still, make the washing their responsibility, they’ll soon start hanging and folding if it saves them a bigger job.

Fact or fiction

50 percent

Airlines could cut fuel consumption by 50 percent if they travelled 15 percent slower

Fact

Half of the fuel used by airplanes could be saved if they reduced the speed at which they fly by just 15 percent. That would make a flight to New York just 1hr 12 minutes longer than the current eight hours from London.