AN ELECTRIC vehicle stand proved popular at a town food festival.

After Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn Town Council declared a climate emergency earlier this year, meetings were held within the town to discuss what could be done.

A few local electric vehicle (EV) owners thought increasing the awareness of EV’s and their financial and environmental benefits to the town would be useful.

With the aid of Open Newtown the group hastily arranged for a stand at last weekend's food festival.

Over the two days a range of EV’s including a Renault Fluence, Tesla Model 3, Kia Soul EV, Nissan env200 and several Nissan Leafs were on display.

Owners chatted to festival goers about their experience of owning an EV. They answered questions about range, running costs and charging while dispelling a few myths along the way.

For those members of the public curious to experience an EV for the first time, there was the opportunity to take a passenger ride too. They were also able to offer advice on what things you should look for, and what questions you should ask dealers before purchasing an EV to make sure you get the right vehicle and charging setup for you.

Event organiser Ben Wood said he was pleased at the positive response from people at the festival and hopes to be able to repeat it next year.

Mr Wood added that he hopes the possibility of a local EV car club being set up and the addition of local EV businesses following the release of several new models in the coming months will add to the attraction.

There is also hope that the proposed addition of public chargers within the town car parks will be completed in time to enable EV owners from further afield who were unable to make this years festival to make it to next the event next year.