Wind-Powered Electric Car from Ecotricity Aiming for Land Speed Record

Ecoctricity's Nemesis

Ecotricity's wind-powered electric car, the Nemesis

We generally leave news on electric cars to our sister site, Gas2.org, but from time to time it seems necessary to cover such news here on Cleantechnica as well. UK clean energy company Ecotricity has been working for years on developing an electric car that gets all of its power from wind energy. The car, called the Nemesis, was unveiled last week, and will apparently try to break the British land speed record of 139 mph in 2011, a record that has been sitting in place since 2000.

The Nemesis is reportedly a 170mph electric sports car that gets its energy from Ecotricity’s 51 UK wind turbines.

Dale Vince commissioned the car and intends to “blow the socks off Jeremy Clarkson and smash the stereotype of electric cars” with it. He has blogged about the development of this unique car regularly on Zero Carbonista.

“We wanted to prove electric cars can be quick to develop, beautiful to look at, cheap to run, and run entirely on wind power,” said Vince. “I was not looking for something ecological, worthy and a bit self-sacrificial, far from it. I wanted to create something exotic and desirable. Something that would turn heads and challenge stereotypes.”

Of course, we are all eagerly awaiting news on the development and availability of cool new electric vehicles, but if these electric vehicles are being charged from coal power plants, that doesn’t really do us much good. The Nemesis and Ecotricity address that issue and Vince  claims that this is a really practical technology option.

“What will our transport look like, post oil and post carbon? The answer has to be wind-powered vehicles, charged using renewable energy for the ultimate in sustainability – zero pollution, from fuel sources like the wind and sun that will never run out… we could power all of the UK’s 30 million cars with 10,000 of today’s windmills – or just 5,000 of tomorrow’s.”

Looks like a cool idea. If you have any more info or views on this vehicle, share below.

Photo Credit: Ecotricity

About Zachary Shahan

If you couldn't guess, I spend most of my time on CleanTechnica and Planetsave. I'm the director/editor of both sites and am a little obsessed with them and the topics they cover. I'm also Publishing Services Manager at Important Media, which means that I do everything I can to support other Important Media writers, editors, and directors (as well as the network as a whole) in the good work they are engaged in. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Change.org, most of the sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. For more, or to connect, go to: zacharyshahan.com

  • http://www.tc-biodiversity.org Stephen Aitken

    A breath of fresh air, and wind powered as well. Goodbye oil, gasoline and CO2 emissions and hello eco-electricity!