Changing vrooms

A new government programme that aims to put British drivers behind the wheel of high-performance electric vehicles aims to change assumptions about environmentally friendly cars.

The EEMS Accelerate project will put 21 electric sports cars on the road for 12 months with support from the Technology Strategy Board. The programme is one of eight new low-carbon vehicle projects sharing £25m to assess electric vehicles as a credible alternative to their hydrocarbon-powered cousins.

A group of drivers will be asked to use the cars as they would a normal vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. The project collaborators will monitor information such as car travel distance and battery life using onboard data logging devices. Some of the information will be sent wirelessly in real time using GPRS. The drivers will also be interviewed to gauge their comfort level with the cars.

Nick Carpenter, technical director of automotive engineering consultancy Delta Motorsport, one of the project collaborators, said getting these vehicles into the hands of motorists will help change misconceptions about electric vehicle technology.