The second annual RAC Future Car Challenge took place last Saturday (November 5, 2011) with over 60 electric, low emission combustion, hybrid, range-extended and fuel cell cars making the journey from Madeira Drive, Brighton to Pall Mall, London with a goal to use the use the least energy over the 60 mile trip. TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk’s editor Faye Sunderland joined The Telegraph’s Andrew English in a pre-production Toyota Prius plug-in to take part in the epic battle of the energy misers.
By Faye Sunderland
As I head down to Brighton to take part in the RAC Future Car Challenge, I thought about my steed (or rather Andrew English’s steed as I was to be a co-driver)- the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid.
It is a car which Toyota has been quietly trailing and testing since 2008, and besides a brief glance at it once before, I had yet to get my mitts on it.
Reading through limited press information on the model my head buzzed with questions. Toyota has been so quiet about this model’s development, at one time, actually wondered if it would ever launch. I didn’t doubt Toyota’s commitment to a plug-in hybrid, but wondered if the technology would be re-packaged into another model or delayed until better times. But renewed faith was regaled by its appearance at the 2011 Frankfurt and a 2012 launch date (no exact date yet, but Toyota’s PRs later told me it would be towards end of June/July with order books expected to open on December 1, 2011).
The Prius of course will be up against GM’s similar-yet vitally different-range-extended technology which will likely arrive in the UK ahead of the Japanese model in the form of the Chevrolet Volt and Vauxhall Ampera (both expected to go on sale in March 2012)-both of which were also to taking part in the challenge.
Toyota was entering three four vehicles into the challenge, two Prius plug-ins (although the other Prius was actually under the stewardship of British Gas), an Auris hybrid and a Highlander fuel cell model. I wanted us to beat the other Prius, driven by TV presenter Robert Llewellyn, as a failure to achieve as good or better MPG could purely be accredited to driving style. Pride was at stake. Of course ‘beating’ in this challenge means achieving better energy efficiency, rather than necessarily crossing the finishing line first. For that Andrew and I would need to know which one of the car’s three driving modes would serve it best over the 60 mile route to London- EV, EV City or HV. For a longer journey, the ordinary hybrid mode seemed fitting, as we could save EV drive for late. The morning arrived and time to inspect our drive and the 60-odd other cars taking part.
London ahead
Before we knew we were off; at a snails pace. Yes eco-driving does mean taking it easier, but thankfully we had the beautiful countryside of the South Downs to admire before we arrived in London, helping to create a relaxed, Sunday driving style.
Of course the Prius plug-in was far from the only interesting car taking part in the challenge. Many of the vehicles taking part have been rarely seen on UK roads. A pre-production Volkswagen Golf Blue-e-motion electric car was one of the biggest attractions, not expected to go into production until 2013, while other noteworthy models included a Lotus Elise S1 Electric car, a Range Rover Range_e, a Mercedes A-Class electric (converted by the Electric Vehicle Company based on the Channel Islands), a Proton Exora REEV, a Chevrolet Volt and Vauxhall Ampera (both soon to go on sale in the UK) and Mercedes Vito Taxi EV (converted by Zytec Automotive).
The journey to London passed pretty uneventfully thankfully, although the Lotus Elise did need a little push to make it to the finish line, with the little yellow EV giving up just yards from the finishing line at Pall Mall.
Regent Street Show: where old and young come together
Once we were all across the finishing line, it was time to head to Regent Street and join the impressive display of pre-1905 veteran cars which were to take part in the RAC Veteran Car Run the following day (Sunday, November 6 2011) in the reverse of our journey, heading from London to Brighton. Here the Regent Street Motor Show became a real spectacle with over 300 cars from 19th, 20th and 21st century on display. The cars taking part in both the Future challenge and the Veteran run were joined by a host of over models from eras spanning three centuries, including 50 Jaguar E-Types and 50 Mini Coopers celebrating their 50th anniversaries.
One interesting display which caught my eye at the show, was a stand from Renault, where the Twizy Z.E was making a rare public appearance along with a 1968 Renault 4 Plein Air dubbed ‘the world’s third best selling car of all time’. Both cars attracted huge public interest although it seemed many were confused about what the Twizy even was (I swear I heard one young girl ask some of her friends ‘what the hell is that?!’ plain and simply).
The best thing about having the pre-1905 cars there is that they made me realise just how far the motor industry has already come in cleaning up its act. Every time one of these ancient relics moved, they belched out smoke, so thick you could hardly see and banged louder than any Bonfire Night display. When it came time for the old timers to leave the show, I had to step away as the air quickly became choking, and I gagged in both surprise and disgust. Even one of our heavier emitting, luxury, gas guzzling models is a hundred times cleaner than any of these cars; I’m not really sure they should be driven at all through London in such huge numbers. All I can say is I’m glad I wasn’t staying for Sunday’s Veteran Run; I’d have keeled over.
Results
But back to the future, as they say, just how did our new cars get on in challenge? Well we’ve already announced the category winners for the Future Car Challenge, and that Gordon Murray Design won the Overall prize for the second year, with a mpg equivalent to 317 for the T.27 electric car (see story). We-or I should say Andrew-jointly won the Range-extended/Plug-in hybrid category with the Prius plug-in shared with the Proton Exora REEV.
But some quick facts; Andrew reckons he touched the brakes twice between Brighton and the Crawley halfway stop as he anticipated slowing traffic and avoided harsh braking to conserve fuel. We used about two litres of fuel between Brighton and London at a cost of around £2.68, based on current petrol prices, over the 60 mile journey. Our mpg was equivalent to around 100mpg (official figures are 49g/km and 134mpg combined cycle). That worked out as an official 27.6kwH of energy, better than the 28.8kWh achieved by the other Prius plug-in (although Robert did have an extra passenger, so in the end it wasn’t really a fair comparison).
Sadly the Chevrolet Volt and Ampera-the Prius’ rivals-did not have their energy consumption measured for the challenge, so we can’t say how they stack up in real world driving. The winning car’s Kwh rating however? The T.27 consumed just 7kwh for the whole 60 miles. Impressive.
Order books for the Prius plug-in open on December 1, 2011, with deliveries due to start end of June. As soon as we know prices, we’ll let you know. Sometime soon we’ll get a chance to test drive the car ourselves and bring you the full verdict. Until then; be patient!
