Entirely designed and built in the UK, the first electric supercar, dubbed Nemesis, will bid to break the UK electric car land-speed record on September 27.
The car will have to beat the current record of 137mph.
Nemesis is the brainchild of Dale Vince OBE, who founded green electricity company, Ecotricity, in Stroud Gloucestershire.
The car was built by an ‘A-Team’ selection of engineers with collective experience in building iconic sports cars such as the McLaren F1, the Lotus Elan, the Corvette 2R1, the Jaguar XJR15 and the De Lorean.
The Nemesis project is part-funded by the Technology Strategy Board under its Ultra Low Carbon Vehicles Demonstration Programme.
Mr Vince said his aim in producing Nemesis was to “smash the stereotype of electric cars as something Noddy would drive – slow, boring, not cool. But also to stimulate thought and debate about how we’ll be getting around when the world runs out of oil.”
Following modifications to increase down-force at high speed Vince says he is confident the car will break the current electric land-speed record.
Nemesis is powered by 100% green electricity from Ecotricity’s network of 53 windmills around the UK and in initial speed tests last year the car achieved 0-100mph in 8.5 seconds.
In terms of range, Nemesis can travel from 100-150 miles between charges depending on driving style and can be charged from empty in under 30mins using rapid-charging infrastructure.
During its record attempt, Nemesis will be driven by local racing-car driver Nick Ponting at Elvington Airfield near York. The Motor Sports Association will adjudicate.
