The bright yellow buggies on the streets of Fulham

A yellow buggy is parked in a road
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Ten hire buggies are currently located in Fulham

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They're bright yellow, small, electric and look like a chunky golf cart and there are 10 of them now in Fulham.

Called Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs), they are from a small company called Yo-Go and you might see more of them in London soon.

They cost 20p a minute to hire and you have to return them to the area from where you picked them up. They have a maximum speed of 20mph and you have to be over 25 years old to drive them. You book them via an app.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council has said they can be parked anywhere free of charge.

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Sam Bailey, CEO of start-up Yo-Go

Sam Bailey is the CEO and an inventor. His vision is to create a safe, pollution-free way of getting around for everyone. Soon the scheme in Fulham will expand to 50 vehicles.

Previously he invented a clip-on leak detection system and a thermal imaging stove monitoring system. Now he has turned his attention to urban transport.

The project has taken four years so far and the starting premise was what could they do to reduce congestion.

"What we are trying to do is create a different mode of transport, that is more affordable for people to drive a low-emission vehicle. And a vehicle that makes the streets more pleasant and safer for other road users so for cyclists and pedestrians," Mr Bailey says.

"We want a vehicle that they feel safe interacting with. And what we also trying to do is reduce congestion. So by making the vehicles smaller, the traffic flows better, there's less constraints on parking, and that benefits everyone in the city."

Image source, PA Media
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Electric Lime bikes are popular in London

Pay-as-you-go electric vehicle hire is not new and certainly in London there are plenty of different options.

Some cities have been trying to encourage "micro-mobility". They want low-polluting, relatively inexpensive transport modes that help get people out of cars. But sometimes there are consequences.

In London, e-bikes like Lime are a regular sight, although how they are parked has annoyed some councils and other pavement users.

There are also docked Transport for London electric hire bikes.

There are also trials of e-scooters in some London boroughs, although private e-scooters are illegal and critics say regulation has not kept up with the increase in use.

Paris banned rental electric scooters in response to a rising number of people being injured and killed in the French capital.

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Yo-Go has plans to expand into other areas

The existing schemes in London do have limitations, though, when there's more than one person or if you want to pick up some shopping. Some people are also nervous using e-bikes and e-scooters. Could these buggies fill a gap between them and motor vehicles?

The buggies are relatively cheap at £6,000 with a range of 35 miles. They are road legal and have number-plates. They also have solar panels on their roof to extend the range.

We gave the buggies a try. And at risk of sounding like an advertisement, the buggies are very easy to use and nippy. You do get some strange looks from other road users and there is definitely a film-set vibe about them. They feel more robust than a golf buggy.

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Klenda Sørensen is a big fan of the hire buggies

Klenda Sørensen uses the buggies to get her children to school and to do the shopping. She is a convert.

"First of all I think they're really fun. They are very affordable, they are convenient, it's very easy to book one," she says.

"And I thing I find very convenient is parking. They are very easy to park and in Fulham parking is a problem. They're also good as they reduce emissions."

Yo-Go is a small company with a big idea, that it thinks can change urban transport. And sometimes transport ideas can take off and spread rapidly.