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Anna Shepard | 05.11.10

Guest post by green writer Anna Shepard

Forget the myth of hair shirts and worthiness that plagues the green movement. Last night, at Somerset House, it was all glitz and glamour, champagne and canapés, and at the heart of it, one very stylish sports car.

Among the heads turned by the launch of the Nemesis, the first high performance electric sports car, was British racing driver Damon Hill; GMTV presenter Joanna Yarrow, and The Observer’s Lucy Siegle, who confessed that although she doesn’t like cars, she had fallen for the Nemesis.

One peek at the Nemesis and it’s obvious why. We’re not talking run-of-the-mill car design here. Built in less than two years, by a team of cutting-edge Formula One engineers, this car is faster than a V12 Ferrari. It does 0-100mph in 8.5 seconds, and can reach speeds of 170mph.

Commissioned by Ecotricity founder Dale Vince only two years ago, his mission was simple: “to blow the socks off Jeremy Clarkson and smash the stereotypes of electric cars.” Not content to have set up the UK’s leading green energy provider Ecotricity, a company that reinvests profits into building more wind turbines and creating more renewable energy, Dale has once again proved himself a green pioneer by creating a high performance car that is slick and stylish, as well as green.

The car can 100-150 miles between charges and can be charged fully in under two hours. By charging it only in places that are signed up to Ecotricity, the Nemesis will run exclusively on green electricity made by its network of 51 UK windmills.

As part of his wider vision for a green Britain, Dale is a passionate supporter of renewable UK energy generation. Tackling emissions from the transport sector is a crucial part of this, he believes, if we are to combat climate change. “In the UK, we drive about 200 billion miles a year, which burns more than 25 million tons of oil. This is simply unsustainable,” he says. According to Dale, when we operate in a post oil, post carbon world, our cars will have to be powered by renewable sources, such as wind-power.

As well as flagging current unsustainable practices, he wanted to prove that electric cars needn’t be worthy and self-sacrificial, but instead beautiful and cheap to run. “I wanted to create something exotic and desirable,” he explains.

The unveiling of the prototype has also coincided with Dale’s latest project, the launch of EcoBonds. By offering an opportunity to invest in green energy generation for people who want to be part of a green Britain, the EcoBonds scheme demonstrate how Ecotricity is forging ahead and innovating new business models.

The next step for the Nemesis is its ‘on the road’ testing period which will continue until December 2011. This will challenge every aspect of its performance and inform how its creators should go about replicating future models.
Before then, it will make its first public appearance tomorrow at the RAC Future Car Rally (link). Should you pay a visit, expect to be wowed by a car that boasts not just good looks, but also non-polluting va-va-voom.

 

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ecotricity, wind car, renewable energy, dale vince, wind energy, nemesis, damon hill