National Low Carbon Vehicle Event

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1. Lord Drayson

Lord Drayson, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, opened the seminar programme, and talked placing the UK at the global forefront of ultra-low carbon vehicle development, demonstration, manufacture and use.

Note that we’re now talking about ‘ultra-low’ carbon vehicles rather than just low carbon. This is a huge area of opportunity for the UK, as there is less competition worldwide – however he said ‘radical approaches’ are required to make the shift.

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Perhaps not surprisingly for someone who races (biofuelled) Aston Martins, Lord Drayson also stressed that consumers don’t want strange-looking cars with poor performance - so sharing our philosophy.

He saw a clear role for government, for example in terms of providing subsidies. In case this has passed you by, the government is creating a new ‘Office of Low Emission Vehicles’ (OLEV) – a cross-Whitehall team dedicated to ensuring support for electric and plug-in hybrid cars. This includes encouraging early market introduction through consumer incentives worth between £2-£5000 per car, as well as developing an infrastructure of recharging points.

Lord Drayson took the Oaktec Honda Civic hybrid rally car out for a spin around Millbrook to experience an innovative example of energy-efficient motorsport.

2. Lightning GT

The Lightning GT will be the UK's first electric GT sports car – as long as the company gets the investment money it needs to build the car. The prototype is still being developed, but the aim is for a limited 130mph top speed, 0-60mph in under 5 seconds, and a 180 mile range from a 10 minute charge (from a three phase high power charger). It’s hoped that this will be achieved by using a high power battery using cutting-edge Nanotechnology, combined with electric wheel motors. The car is expected to cost £120,000 and the aim is to start production in 2010.

3 MINI E

The electric MINI was also on display. MINI recently announced that people were being invited to apply to lease the car as part of a trial, but the offer was only open to people in the South East. Read our full road test of the MINI E in two weeks time.

4 ECC Citroen C1 ev’ie

The ECC C1 ev’ie is an electric Citroen C1. The company ECC takes brand new C1s, removes the petrol engine, and replaces it with a battery and electric motor. We’re pleased to report that it drives very well, and it certainly feels like a real car, unlike many electric cars out there. Also unlike many electric cars, you can buy this today – but it costs £17,000. Many people will think this is expensive for a car with a range of just 70 miles. It’s a shame that the government’s grant to subsidise electric cars isn’t yet available.

5 Mitsubishi i-MiEV

When we drove the Mitsubishi i-MiEV last year it was the most convincing electric car of its type that we’d tested. One year on and nothing has changed; the steering, suspension and brakes all feel excellent. However you can’t buy one yet, and when you can, it’s likely to be expensive – over £20,000.

6 Smart ED

The Smart fortwo looks like it was designed from the start to be an electric city car. However the electric Smarts at this event weren’t production versions, but part of the UK-trial fleet. More development work is still needed to get it ready for sale.

7 Vauxhall VX220 Diesel

A Vauxhall VX220 diesel? Surely that’s a misprint? No – this is a Ricardo test-bed, the company was just having some fun to see what would happen if a diesel engine was put in a lightweight sport car. The result? Great to drive around Millbrook’s Alpine route, with very low emissions and excellent economy – if not quite as much fun as the petrol version. Volkswagen obviously thought this was a good idea, as the forthcoming BlueSport is almost a spiritual successor to this test car.

8 Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel

The Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel can run on either petrol, ethanol or methanol, or a blend of all three if necessary. Alcohol fuel has a higher octane rating than petrol, so it produces 270bhp – ie. 50bhp more than the 220bhp of the standard Exige. The idea is to show that it’s possible to use hydrogen to power a car, by adding CO2 and turning it into methanol. This could avoid the need to set up a hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, as well as avoiding the need to produce expensive fuel cells to power our cars.

9 Lotus Eco-Elise

The Lotus Eco-Elise is designed to demonstrate that cars can be constructed from sustainable materials. The interior trim, seats and roof are made from hemp (yes, as in cannabis) – as this can be grown, so it’s renewable, and it absorbs CO2 as it grows, so it’s carbon-neutral. The car also has water-based paints. The entire car is lighter than the standard Elise – which is light to start with. This is despite having solar panels on the roof, to power the air conditioning. Best of all, it’s still a Lotus Elise, so it’s great to drive.

10 Land Rover LRX

The Land Rover LRX is due to be Land Rover’s smallest, lightest and most fuel-efficient model. In the last few days it’s also been confirmed that the car will go into production. It’s due to debut next year and join the Range Rover line-up in 2011.