The electric Think City car has much to celebrate this morning after the BBC’s pioneering 4,500 mile, 12 country European trek in the electric model was successfully completed with the arrival back in London yesterday.
The return comes exactly one month after the BBC Electric Ride team left Broadcasting House on their epic journey in the little Think City electric car model. The entire journey went without a hitch, without so much as a puncture to report back.
Commenting on completing the journey BBC presenter, Peter Curran said: “The feeling, quite simply, is electric.”
In other good news for the electric carmaker, another two of its City car models successfully completed the Revolve Bridgestone Eco-Rally yesterday too. One car was driven by Channel 4’s designer, Kevin McCloud, and the other, a race-ready Think City that will compete in next year’s EV Cup racing series, by Roger Saul, of fashion brand Mulberry and eco-farm Sharpham Park fame. The journey took the two cars from Brighton to London’s Hype Park as part of a display of eco-driving possibilities (see full story).
Roger Saul commented that: “the THINK City was very nice to drive and this EV racing edition was very tight. The whole aim of today was to drive from Brighton to London with the best carbon footprint and I managed to drive the full 50 miles using just half the battery capacity.”
The THINK City driven by Roger has been converted into a race-ready model by the EV Cup team of specialists in London, who have removed nearly 70kg of weight from the vehicle, achieved by stripping out the interior to leave one single lightweight racing seat and steering wheel, and replacing all glass with heat resistant and shatterproof Perspex.
A revised suspension system to lower the centre of gravity for the already well-planted car and further improve handling, complete the conversion.
The BBC team’s European adventure is concluded this Saturday on Radio 4 at 10.30hrs (BST / GMT +1) as well as BBC Online (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/electric-ride), Facebook (www.facebook.com/BBCelectricride), Twitter (www.twitter.com/bbcelectricride) and the project website (www.electricride.eu).
The latest generation THINK City is a purpose-built, all-electric car designed for urban environments. It can travel at highway speeds and cover 160 kilometres on a single charge (via conventional household outlet), with zero local emissions.
