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21st May 2008

A newly formed company, Liberty Electric Cars Ltd, is investing £30 million in the re-engineering of large luxury cars and 4x4s into electric vehicles. The company will design and manufacture a unique electric drivetrain platform to power a wide range of large vehicles, which it says will have the flexibility to incorporate emerging technologies.

The company has so given no details of its technology or battery type. Annual vehicle production, which will include an electrically powered Range Rover, will, the company expects, be in “tens of thousands” and will create around 250 new technology and manufacturing jobs.

Vehicle prices will range between £95,000 and £125,000 depending on model and specification.

Liberty Electric Cars’ management team is led by Barry Shrier, founder and CEO, a former managing director at Deutsche Bank, where he developed the mobile payment system – Pay Box. He is joined by Peter Sylvester, a former finance director of Harley Davidson, BMW and Rover and Ian Hobday, a former BASF and Arch Chemicals Inc. executive. Lord Anthony St John of Bletso chairs the company’s advisory committee, which includes former science minister Ian Taylor MBE, MP and a number of unnamed experts in electric vehicle system design.

A number of UK manufacturing locations are under consideration, including south west England. Liberty Electric Cars Limited is headquartered at Keble House, Church End, South Leigh, Oxford OX29 6UR Telephone 0800 107 9908.

- A Palestinian-developed electric car drew admiring stares yesterday from people in fuel-starved Gaza, reported Reuters. Fayez Amman and fellow electrical engineer Wasim al-Khuzundar drove their small car sporting 32 batteries through the streets of Gaza City; they said the vehicle could travel up to 120 miles on a single charge. Mr. Amman put the cost of the project at $2,500.