London’s first non-membership electric car hire company GoGo Electric says that the bulk of its customers are private motorists living on the outskirts of the city who want to try out electrics as potential ‘early adopters’.

The company, which offers short-term rentals of the all-electric Mega e-City from its base in Brixton, says that the petrol and diesel price hikes during the summer, and the government fuel duty increase in September, have made people look again at the cost of motoring by traditional means.

GoGo Electric founder Natalie Franklin said: “Feedback from customers shows that many are also using the hire to try out a technology that they can see will become more mainstream over the next few years, with a view to buying their own electric vehicle as a runaround in town.”