The very best in British designed and engineered electric high-performance cars have today begun a 12 month test on the UK's roads. By putting the cars through their most stringent challenges yet, the ‘real-life' road tests aim to demonstrate the benefits of electric vehicles and at the same time showcase the UK's manufacturing excellence in this area.

14 EEMS accelerate vehicles are now on the road -and will be trialled in ‘real-world' scenarios for a period of 12 months as part of the Technology Strategy Board's £25m Ultra-Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator competition.  The test drivers are expected to use the vehicles for their everyday use in the same road and environmental conditions that a regular road car would be used in.

The EEMS Accelerate programme, led by AEA brings together a consortium of specialist UK manufacturers to design, develop, demonstrate and realise the potential of electric high-performance cars. The cars which are now on the roads are the Westfield Sport-E, the Delta E-4 Coupe, Ecotricity's Nemesis and the Electric Lightning GT.

The cars' designers have all aimed to push boundaries in research and development in batteries, motors and chassis design and media were invited to drive the vehicles at Goodwood to see how far the manufacturers had succeeded in achieving their goals.

Commenting after a successful training and media day, EEMS Accelerate programme manager Justin Brock said:

"We are proud to be pioneering the future of UK manufactured electric high-performance cars, which represents green, sustainable cutting-edge technology.  The intelligence gained will be crucial in further developing the technology and demonstrating its importance to the UK."

Data collected by AEA from the EEMS Accelerate programme will be published and used by the Technology Strategy Board to demonstrate the wider benefits of electric vehicles and illustrate the UK as an emerging centre of development and manufacture with the potential to generate lasting, high quality employment.

Full press release (PDF)

More information on EEMS Accelerate here