A damp July Sunday in 2007 may well go down in history as the day the practical electric car finally came of age. From a start point just South of Clapham Common, London, an Elettrica two-seater made the 50 mile-odd run all the way to Brighton sea front on a single charge, with battery capacity to spare.
�Range has always been the electric car�s equivalent of the Red Flag act. Like the Red Flag act, with recent developments in lithium-cobalt battery technology, it has now become more of a psychological rather than a practical limitation�, says Vaughan Richmond, partner at Elettrica�s UK agents� Travelelectric.
Organised by the Battery Vehicle Society, the 22nd of July�s London to Brighton EV Run event has become an annual gathering that attracts both amateur enthusiasts for this mode of transport, as well as commercial entries from the UK�s growing clutch of electric car and light van manufacturers.
Retracing the route taken by those early internal combustion motor pioneers, one of the company�s Elettrica vehicles took in the climb over the Ditchling Beacon � proving that today�s EVs need no longer be restricted to central London flood-plains or the flat-lands of Cambridgeshire. As Richmond is at pains to make clear: �You have to remember that this is not a prototype, or a vehicle using technology that is 10 years in the future. What we achieved that Sunday, can be repeated day in day out, with two adults, and all from a car that has sufficient in reserve to cope with the cut and thrust of urban dual-carriageways�.
Travelelectric, based in Ringwood, Hampshire was established to develop the Italian-built Elettrica into a form more suitable for this country. The vehicle now features a range of 60 miles from a single 5 hour charge, and a top speed of 40 MPH, using British-designed control technology and aircraft-grade lithium-cobalt batteries. Deliveries to customers are currently scheduled to commence during September of 2007.
Organised by the Battery Vehicle Society, the 22nd of July�s London to Brighton EV Run event has become an annual gathering that attracts both amateur enthusiasts for this mode of transport, as well as commercial entries from the UK�s growing clutch of electric car and light van manufacturers.
Retracing the route taken by those early internal combustion motor pioneers, one of the company�s Elettrica vehicles took in the climb over the Ditchling Beacon � proving that today�s EVs need no longer be restricted to central London flood-plains or the flat-lands of Cambridgeshire. As Richmond is at pains to make clear: �You have to remember that this is not a prototype, or a vehicle using technology that is 10 years in the future. What we achieved that Sunday, can be repeated day in day out, with two adults, and all from a car that has sufficient in reserve to cope with the cut and thrust of urban dual-carriageways�.
Travelelectric, based in Ringwood, Hampshire was established to develop the Italian-built Elettrica into a form more suitable for this country. The vehicle now features a range of 60 miles from a single 5 hour charge, and a top speed of 40 MPH, using British-designed control technology and aircraft-grade lithium-cobalt batteries. Deliveries to customers are currently scheduled to commence during September of 2007.
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