Kevin Sharpe aged 51yrs, has recently completed a journey from one end of Britain to the other in an electric car, a journey of 894 miles. Charity boss Kevin made six stops to charge the eco friendly Tesla Roadster at a total cost of just £20. The same journey would cost around £138 in a petrol fuelled family car.
The challenge was devised as a way of raising electrical car awareness. The cost to charge the battery was around £3-4 which is enough to allow for 200 miles of driving at 70mph. He first charged at Wick in Scotland and had to power the car again in Kirknewton and Aviemore which is north of the border. Kevin then travelled through England and charged his vehicle in Nottingham, Durham, Birmingham and Taunton before reaching lands end 36 hours later. Charity boss Mr Sharpe from Zero Carbon World said it was ‘a fantastic way to make the general public aware of the network.’
“There were points where we were worried with having a full load on board but it worked out to be fine.”
There are nine charge points throughout the network situated in hotel car parks across the country. Customers are charged for the electric that they use and hoteliers are charged £250 for their installation.
There are two ways to charge the vehicles which take 8hrs for overnight or a quick 3hr charge which both run on 70amp plug. David Peilow, a satellite engineer and Mr Sharpe set off from John O’ Groats on May 21st. Mitsubishi Audi , VW and BMW are all set to delve into the market to start to produce these electric cars in the next couple of years. Nissan have already produced their own electric car called ‘The Leaf’ which will be cost £25,000. Tesla Motors is based in California and the Tesla Roadster is based on a Lotus Elise and will be the first car which to use battery cells powered by lithium.
