Description

Guy Martin explores the world of electric vehicles and attempts to set a new world record for the fastest road legal battery vehicle on a ¼ mile drag strip.

The vehicle he chooses is a classic Volkswagen Beetle fitted with state of the art Tesla technology, that allows the lightweight 50-year-old classic to accelerate faster most supercars.

Alongside the record attempt, Guy also takes the opportunity to learn as much as possible about the state of electric motoring in Britain today. He takes on an ambitious 1,100 mile road trip to John o’Groats to test the country’s charging infrastructure, and shares a journey with girlfriend Sharon to hear her strident views about why electric cars aren’t for everyone.

Guy also works at a Battery Abuse Centre to set fire to an EV and find out if the chemicals inside really do make it more dangerous than its petrol equivalent, before testing a range of the next generation of battery-powered vehicles, from the world’s fastest bus, to a £116,000 Porsche, to the £15,000 bicycle that is so powerful Simon Cowell crashed one and broke his back. And proving that what powers them all is relatively simple, Guy demonstrates the science behind all these machines by making a battery out of a potato and a motor out of paperclips.

By the end of his adventure Guy is able to answer the number one question in motoring today: should you buy an electric car?