Ecotricity throws down electric car gauntlet to auto giants

Green energy provider Ecotricity will next month debut an all-electric sports car, which it hopes will increase pressure on car manufacturers to accelerate development of zero carbon vehicles.

A spokeswoman for the company said that it was on track to complete work on its Wind Car project to retrofit a battery and electric motor to a Lotus Exige by the end of February, less than a year after the start of the initiative.

"What we want to do is throw down the gauntlet to the car companies and show that these types of vehicles are perfectly feasible and can be developed quickly," she said. "It has taken a couple of hundred thousand pounds and around six months to retrofit the technology – and it works."

According to Ecotricity's figures, the car, which is the brainchild of company founder and managing director Dale Vince, will have a range of between 100 and 150 miles between charges and will do 0-60mph in under four seconds. It will also boast a top speed of around 100mph.

The spokeswoman added that the car was primarily intended as a demonstration model, but that a number of limited edition models may go on sale.

The Ecotricity Wind Car is the latest in a wave of developments that suggest electric vehicles are fast approaching maturity.

Last week, Lotus announced that it will unveil a new plug-in hybrid concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in March that it claims will be capable of covering 400 miles on a single tank of petrol.

Meanwhile, reports earlier this month claimed BMW is signing up US customers to test its all-electric version of the Mini Cooper.

According to Bloomberg reports, the company is looking to lease 250 of its Mini E in Southern California and 200 in New York and New Jersey to test the vehicles durability in everyday conditions. The company claims applications for the trial have outstripped the number of cars available by four to one.