Highland pupils help area gear up for EV future
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Pupils from across the Highlands were charged with helping to inspire grown-ups to go electric.
Children in primary and secondary schools were asked to come up with inspirational imagery to raise awareness of electric vehicles throughout the region and to help Highland move towards a low-carbon transport future.
As part of the I Design Future initiative, pupils were asked to design branding for one of Highland Council's electric vehicles and for charging infrastructure being installed across the region.
There were two separate competitions – the first, for primary school pupils, was to design a vehicle wrap for Zippy Zoe (a Renault Zoe), one of the council’s EVs with a 'passion for adventure', which will be seen throughout Highlands promoting the shift to low- carbon travel.
The second part of the competition was for secondary school pupils, who were tasked with designing branding for Highland Council’s EV charging infrastructure.
In preparation for the competition Anna Myeshkova, Highland Council’s climate change co-ordinator (EV), and Zippy Zoe visited primary schools, sparking off conversations about climate change and inspiring children to take an active role in exploring solutions to this global issue.
The council says its ambition is to champion renewable energy generation and transition to a low-carbon transport system. Across the region, 31 electric vehicle charging points have been installed by the council with support from Transport Scotland, with many more due to be installed in the coming year.
Competition judges were so impressed with the talent and standard of entries received that they chose two primary school winners instead of one – Ben Macgillvray from North Kessock Primary and Aysha Reid from Crown Primary.
Ben created an inspirational quote, "The Future Is In My Hands" incorporated with the images of a globe and his hands. "I just want the world to be better," said Ben.
Aysha’s image shows Zippy Zoe travelling around various locations in Highlands.
Both images are already proudly displayed on Zippy Zoe and can be seen on the streets of Inverness and around the Highlands.
The winner of the second part of the competition was decided unanimously – Samantha Flavell (S3) created a technically impressive design that captured the essence of Highlands.
Samantha’s work will feature on EV charging points and signage.
She said: "I learned about the project from my teacher and I got very excited by this opportunity to create an image which would be used on charging points throughout Highlands. I feel honoured my work is now a part of Highland EV history."
The chair of the council’s climate change working group, Cllr Trish Robertson, said: "Involving pupils, educating and enthusing them to take part in this EV initiative is potentially an important step in the fight against climate change in Highland.
"We were overwhelmed with talent among young people – some showed real skill with drawing, some have imagination that inspires, some young minds used the power of words and created beautiful motivational quotes. The future is in safe hands with youth like this."
- To find out more about current EV initiatives see energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland or call Home Energy Scotland free on 0808 808 2282.
- For more Energy North stories, click here
