A renewable energy car has successfully completed a record-breaking around-the-world trip at a cost of just AU$400 ( around £251) in electricity.
Team Trev arrived in Geneva today on the opening day of the Geneva Motor Show after completing a journey 30,000 km in just 80 days of driving.
The Google-sponsored car, built by students from the University of South Australia, ended its journey at the United Nations headquarters in the Swiss capital. The three-wheel two seat model is an electric car, recharged using only renewable energy sources.
Part of the new ‘Zero Race’ around the world, the Trev (pictured) with its team is an open source electric car based on a super-light frame. Weighing just 350kg, the car uses minimal energy to sustain it over the required 250 kilometres to a single charge.
The race was set up by Swiss inventor Louis Palmer after he completed an 18-month pioneering world tour in a solar-powered taxi two years ago, picking up celebrities on the way. All-in-all, eight teams from countries including Australia, Germany and Switzerland took part in epic journey which started, as it ends, in Geneva. All the teams successfully piloted their custom-built two seat electric cars, completing their journey today.
‘Team Trev’ developer Dr Peter Pudney from university’s School of Mathematics and Statistics, says Trev’s achievement is proof that green technology can achieve big things.
“We originally built Trev just because we wanted to show that it was possible to build a car that used clean energy and a lot less energy than a normal car,” Dr Pudney said.
“Clean electricity for the around the world trip cost us about $400, so it’s really cheap to run as well as clean – it makes you wonder why we are still driving around in petrol cars because we’ve shown it is possible to do it differently,” he said.
