10:51 am, October 2, 2024
The Prince of Wales has made an appearance at Norton Way’s GWR Kia to fit an eco tyre made by one of the finalists of the Earthshot Prize.
The car dealership on Great West Road in Brentford was host to royalty and media to show off some new technology from the competition.
William got to grips with the 17-inch alloy wheel fitted with a tyre made by start-up ENSO, who were shortlisted last year in the Clean Our Air category of Prince William’s global environmental competition.
He gave ENSO technical sales executive Andrew Bernard a hand in fitting the wheel of an electric Kia Niro car and he commented he had changed a few wheels before.
Mr Bernard joked: ‘You got some spare time, come and work for us.’
ENSO has announced a three-year partnership with delivery and ride-hailing service Uber, and thousands of drivers in the UK and US will be offered access to specially discounted ENSO tyres via a dedicated buyers’ club.
The founder of ENSO, Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, explained they now have plans to open a tyre factory in the US and after the Earthshot prize-giving ceremony hosted in Singapore in 2023 secured funding for this.
He said: ‘So all these things bring together the capital, the solution and the scale to make things happen quickly because we’re running out of time to deal with these problems on this planet – we can’t wait forever.
‘In a nutshell, Prince William is effectively the cheerleader for the planet, where he’s cheering us on to make these things work, deliver and impact at scale.’
