Britain’s first high performance, electric supercar was unveiled last night at an exclusive preview in London. The country’s answer to the Tesla Roadster, the Nemesis-based on the Lotus Elise-is now set to make its way to Brighton for its public debut as an entrant to the Future Car Challenge this weekend.
Developed by green energy firm, Ecotricity, the car is not just fast, its genuinely emission-free, as the electricity it uses is generated from the firm’s own renewable energy sources.
Faster than a V12 Ferrari, the Nemesis can achieve 0-100mph in 8.5 seconds and can reach 170mph. It runs for between 100-150 miles between charges depending on driving style and can be charged from empty in under 2 hours from its fast charger or 8-9 hours from a regular mains supply.
Brainchild of the firm’s founder and MD Dale Vince OBE, Nemesis was created, developed and built in less than two years by a team of leading-edge British Formula One engineers in Norfolk. Dale commissioned the car in August 2008 with the brief to "blow the socks off Jeremy Clarkson and smash the stereotype of electric cars".
“We wanted to prove electric cars can be quick to develop, beautiful to look at, cheap to run, and run entirely on wind power”, said Dale Vince. “I was not looking for something ecological, worthy and a bit self-sacrificial, far from it. I wanted to create something exotic and desirable. Something that would turn heads and challenge stereotypes.”
The Nemesis can be seen publicly for the first time taking part in the RAC’s Brighton to London Future Car Challenge on Saturday 6 November 2010. The event is designed to showcase the motor industry’s achievements in developing cleaner and more fuel efficient technologies, with awards for those that use the least energy over the course distance (more info here: http://www.futurecarchallenge.com/).
In the near future, the technology use to develop the Nemesis will be incorporated into Ecotricty’s next project, a 250mph+ wind-powered electric supercar, and an electric tractor to address the next big issue of how we feed ourselves post-oil.
The team also plans to challenge the British electric car land speed record in 2011 and Vince is confident that Nemesis will comfortably break the 139 mph set by Don Wales, grandson of Malcolm Campbell and nephew of Donald Campbell, in Bluebird Electric in August 2000.
