| Allied Vehicles trials electric cars in Glasgow |
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Allied Vehicles - http://www.alliedvehiclesltd.com/ Scottish Engineering member, Allied Vehicles wins funding to accelerate technological development of alternative fuel vehicles. More than £1.8million of funding has been awarded by the Technology Strategy Board to a consortium led by Glasgow niche vehicle manufacturer Allied Vehicles and including StrathclydeUniversity. The project will support the development and trial of electric cars in the city over the next two years- data on the vehicles' performance, including cost per mile and energy per mile, will be monitored at Strathclyde University, through a bespoke data-logger installed in the cars. The Allied Vehicles Project aims to accelerate technological development, help encourage the take up of alternative fuel vehicles and to identify and resolve issues that may arise in the production and use of this type of vehicle in a daily-use environment. The intention is for the project to design, test and bring to production 40 battery electric cars by October 2009, via partners Allied Vehicles, Strathclyde University, Glasgow City Council, ScottishPower and Axeon. The vehicles will have zero tailpipe emissions of CO2 or any other noxious gases. They will have a range of 80 to 100 miles on a full recharge and will be capable of recharging from domestic or commercial power supply. The performance of the vehicles will be tested to UN regulations. Forty charging points will be located around Glasgow. During the one-year test period the vehicles will be monitored using an innovative GPS system to record the number and length of individual journeys, the date and time and the energy usage of each journey, the time and length of charging and the ambient temperature. This data will be gathered via the internet for analysis by experts at Strathclyde University. The project will produce a range of passenger battery electric vehicles based on the Peugeot car range and Peugeot Expert Teepees. Converted by Allied Vehicles, a proportion of the vehicles will be equipped to transport wheelchair passengers, widening the range of potential users as far as possible. The project will significantly extend knowledge of the ways in which electric vehicles are driven, including information on charging frequencies and locations, distances driven and driving styles. This will provide hugely useful information to utilities and vehicle and battery manufacturers, enabling future improvement of electric vehicle batteries, by optimising their performance to meet empirically-demonstrated needs. For more information see the following article http://www.strath.ac.uk/features/electriccar/ |