Electric car hire business expands out of Banbury town into villages to satisfy growing demand

Zimbl offers EV hire cars in Banbury but has announced expansion to some neighbouring villages

Following a Banbury Guardian report about Zimbl’s solution to the expense of keeping a car for infrequent journeys, the company this week confirmed they are offering EV car rentals in a number of villages.

The communities able to have an EV hire car delivered to their home are Deddington, Adderbury, Bloxham, Clifton, Hempton, Barford St Michael and Barford St John.

Zimbl co-founder Richard Devitt said the goal is to ‘help people in the community and to help protect the environment by providing cheap, easy access to EV’s on an hourly basis with no long-term commitments’.

Zimbl held open days in Deddington and received very encouraging demand for its EV hire vehicles

The cost of rental is for £8 per hour or £80 for 24 hours.

The expansion comes after Zimbl ran a series of open days in Deddington which saw encouraging demand for its cars.

"Our expansion to these villages will mean that the people, so often excluded from the latest services and opportunities, will have the same access to those who live in Banbury itself,” said Mr Devitt, who established the company with Andrew Christoforu and Elton Jones.

The company has recently teamed up with Katharine House Hospice and the Banbury Lunchbox Project. It will be providing support vehicles without charge for the hospice’s fundraising event, the Moonlight Walk, on May 20, and has provided an EV to allow the Lunchbox project to continue delivering much needed donations around the area.

Mr Devitt said: “One of Zimbl’s primary goals as a business is to help people. With the cost of living crisis there are a lot of people who are really suffering so anything we can do to help them by providing low-cost, zero-emission transport for the times they actually need it can help them balance their budgets.”

Zimbl is running its first Banbury open days on Sunday-Monday, February 26 - 27 at the Easington Pub, Bloxham Road. Members of the public are invited to test drive a car free of charge and ask questions. For anyone who wishes to test drive a Zimbl, you will need to register on Zimbl’s simple app ahead of the open day and book a time at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/zimbl