ELECTRIC cars and their future potential will be on the agenda when a Malvern-based group holds its inaugural meeting next weekend.

The Malvern Hills Electric Automobile Association, or ElectrAA for short, is holding the meeting at Malvern Theatres and hopes to attract anyone with an interest in the alternative vehicles.

The event starts with an informal networking lunch in the theatre bistro, followed by the meeting itself in the circle bar from 1pm to 5pm.

Malvern Hills District Council chairman Mike Morgan will be opening the event, and it is hoped MP Harriett Baldwin, who has agreed to be the group's patron will be there.

Among the speakers will be Robert Llewellyn on Electric cars are rubbish...aren't they? and Simon Crowfoot on Ecotricity, the electric highway.

And in the nearby Priory Road car park, where chargers were fitted recently by MHDC, will be a selection of electric cars including a BMW i8 and i3, a Tesla, a Mazda, a Nissan Leaf, a Renault Zoe and Malvern's own Morgan Plus E.

Dan Wild, the group’s secretary, said: “2014 promises to be an exciting year in the field of electric-powered vehicles.

“Malvern Hills seems an ideal area for this since the district council installed chargers with free supply, and the local population has a high proportion of active and retired scientists and academics. This group makes an obvious initial target for ElectrAA.”

He said the aim of next week's meeting is to attract not just people who are already converted to the idea of electric vehicles,

"We want to to attract the interested and curious to dispel some of the myths widely held about electric vehicles," he said.