Glastonbury Festival has been repeatedly pleading with punters to ‘leave no trace’ as the environmentally-conscious organizers try and do everything they can to mitigate the event’s effect on the environment.
Situated in the heart of the Somerset Levels, hundreds of thousands of festival-goers descend on Worthy Farm every year from all corners of the UK and beyond, with many traveling by car. … [bold, links added]
Since the festival was established back in 1970, transport has changed drastically, especially in terms of personal vehicles.
From just a quick glance around the car park, Teslas and other electric vehicles can be found, although very, very few are actually being charged.
Being in such a remote location, organizers informed electric vehicle owners before the festival that they have ‘very limited capacity’ to offer charging points on site.
Instead, electric vehicle owners were advised to charge up before reaching Worthy Farm.
Yesterday, June 24, Bristol Live heard reports that drivers of electric vehicles were being charged £80 per hour to charge their cars.
To verify this, we went down to the AA compound in the Bronze car park of Glastonbury to ask whether this was the case.
Prior to Glastonbury starting, organizers wrote on the website:
“As a rural location, Worthy Farm has very limited capacity to offer electrical vehicle charging on site. Just as drivers of petrol or diesel cars need to make sure they have sufficient fuel for their journey, if you are traveling to the Festival in an electric or hybrid vehicle, it is important to make sure you have sufficient battery charge for your journey.
“Please charge before you travel to site – if you have less than 50 miles charge on approach to the site, please recharge before you enter the Festival car parks, making sure you have sufficient charge to start your return journey after the Festival.”
The statement then continued:
“The AA will offer a limited – first come first served – emergency recovering charging facility (to members and non-members) onsite at Bronze car park only, off the A361. Emergency charging is at a fixed cost of £50 for up to an hour’s charge/80% battery (whichever is soonest).
“Payment is by card only. Please note this service is for emergency use only and cannot be guaranteed, so please do charge before you arrive.”
According to an AA worker, the diesel generator that powers the electric charging points is present on the farm all year round, and is switched on as and when it is required.
This system is thought to be better for the environment than installing a Tesla Supercharger, for instance.
As for the rumored £80/hour charging cost, Bristol Live was informed that this was enforced earlier this week, but after receiving feedback from punters, Glastonbury organizers slashed the cost down to £50 for the whole weekend. The original price was apparently put in place as a ‘deterrent’. …
Single-use plastic bottles are not sold on the site on environmental grounds, too. Instead, revelers are encouraged to bring their own reusable bottles and make use of the 100 free drinking water taps scattered around Worthy Farm.
h/t Rúnar O.
Read rest at Bristol Live
I guess the days of twenty hippies turning up in a single kombi van are long gone?