Eco car aims to set range record

Date: 16/6/2010

A road trip designed to highlight the range capacity of Vauxhall's new Ampera model is set to take place later this month.

In a bid to increase awareness of sustainable motoring, a team of Vauxhall staff will take the car on a trip from the Vauxhall Heritage Centre in Luton to the company's passenger car plant in Ellesmere Port.

Some 170 miles will be covered on the journey - a distance which Vauxhall claims will make the journey the "longest single road trip ever for an electric vehicle in the UK".

The vehicle has a range of some 350 miles, however, meaning that this trip should use less than half of the available power.

Earlier this year, the manufacturer confirmed that the car is currently being developed on schedule and is expected to hit the forecourts in the UK in early 2012.

The car offers 40 miles of pure-electric driving, and a further 310 miles of driving on electricity generated from an onboard generator.

Posted by Nick Anderson