Nemesis Electric Supercar

The idea that this car promotes green values has to be the biggest joke in the fake green energy world. This vehicle took a massive energy input to create. Can anyone beat this? What's the most hilarious fake green project you've encountered?

www.ecotricity.co.uk...

This is from The Telegraph 6 November 2010.

"It is Britain's first – and fastest – electric supercar. Driven by the country's wealthiest eco-entrepreneur, the £750,000 Nemesis sports car enjoyed its first official outing yesterday.
But what onlookers at its spectacular launch may not have realised is that the multi-millionaire tycoon behind the one-off Nemesis has been given almost £400,000 of taxpayers' money to get his dream car on the road.
Dale Vince, who is worth an estimated £90 million through his wind farm empire, has full-time use of the Nemesis, an electrically-powered Lotus, which has been part-funded by a little-known Government quango.
The car, which has a top speed of 135 miles per hour and can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds, was launched amid much fanfare at the RAC Brighton to London Future Car Challenge, which also featured electric Minis and Range Rovers.
Critics have questioned why the taxpayer is effectively subsidising Mr Vince's new daily runabout.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed earlier this year how Mr Vince's company Ecotricity currently receives about £6 million a year in generous subsidies for its 15 wind farms.
The new car has been co-funded by Ecotricity and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), a quango funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which gives away about £350 million a year to try to encourage innovation in the UK.
The car, which has taken 18 months to build, is adapted from a Lotus Exige and uses 96 lithium-ion batteries to power it. It cost £750,000, half of which is provided by the Technology Strategy Board.
A similar Lotus-based sports car, called the Tesla and which is built in California, is already available as a production car and is sold to the general public for about £80,000.
Fiona McEvoy, campaign manager for The TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Whether or not people agree that public money should be spent developing these sorts of green technologies, it's clear this man is deriving some personal benefit from this, which calls into question what these grants are for and whether they're going to the right places.
"It looks totally inappropriate for a millionaire to be cruising around in a sports car funded, at least in part, by the rest of us."
Mr Vince, 49, a former hippy who used to live in a truck, has declared his intention to use the two-seater Nemesis as his everyday car.
But his spokesman appeared to backtrack on that and suggest Ecotricity's celebrity customers might also be allowed to drive the sports car for periods of time.
The spokesman said: "I know Dale has said he will be driving the car as a normal day car. But really he's more of a motorbike fan. It may be that we offer the car to other people to give them the opportunity to drive it as well.
"It might be one of our famous name customers. We have a bunch of famous customers."
The spokesman refused to divulge their names except for Robert Llewellyn, the presenter of Scrapheap Challenge.
The car is fitted with a black box recorder which will log all the journeys it takes and inform researchers about the practicalities of everyday use of electric-powered cars.
With a range of between 100 and 150 miles, the car – like many other electric powered vehicles – is limited in distance. The car was taken down to Brighton for the start of yesterday's rally on a trailer to preserve its battery power.
Mr Vince's spokesman said: "Dale had an idea to build an electric car that was faster than a Ferrari and to show the Jeremy Clarksons of this world that electric cars can be fun, sexy and desirable without consuming endless fossil fuels."
Nemesis was one of eight projects backed through a £25 million 'driving innovation' scheme funded by the Technology Strategy Board.
Although Nemesis is a one-off, the scheme in total will see 340 'low carbon' vehicles on British roads, most of them electric-powered. Members of the general public have been able to apply to test drive cars in some of the projects.
A spokesman for the TSB said: "This trial is not about one car. The true value of the investment involves bringing together a range of organisations involved in a specific issue, in this case creating low carbon cars and infrastructures to run those cars.
"The Technology Strategy Board acts as the catalyst, bringing together business, industry, research and infrastructure providers.
"Without the £25 million funding which was matched by industry, these trials would not be taking place and we would not be gaining the valuable data from them that will help us make electric cars a reality for everyone in the UK."
Mr Vince, who calls himself the 'Zero Carbonista' on his blog in an apparent nod to Che Guevara, is reckoned to be Britain's wealthiest eco-entrepreneur.
He is worth about £90 million, according to the latest rich lists, having started his wind turbine business in the mid 1990s.
According to his own website, Mr Vince was as recently as the early 1990s, "living on a hill, in an ex-military vehicle I called home, using a small windmill to power the lights and stuff".
In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to the environment and now lives in a wing of a country house on the edge of Stroud, which also serves as the headquarters of the company he founded.
Critics argue that Ecotricity's success is at least in part due to the millions of pounds in subsidies it has received over the years.
The Renewable Energy Foundation, an energy think tank critical of onshore wind farms, says from its calculations that Ecotricity can expect to receive £25 million a year in annual subsidies should all the wind farms it has planned be put into operation.
The subsidy – known as the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) system – was established by the previous Labour Government to encourage energy companies to invest in renewable energy.
Opponents claim the levy is overly generous and is encouraging a rapid growth of wind turbines in some of Britain's loveliest stretches of countryside.
They even suggest the ROC subsidy is leading to wind farms being built in areas where the wind is not necessarily that strong.
Supporters of the ROC scheme point out wind farms which produce the most electricity receive the highest subsidy. They point out the scheme is necessary to encourage the growth of renewable energy sources which are expensive to start up.
Meanwhile Mr Vince will enjoy his new runaround. But he will hope Nemesis gets over initial teething troubles.
Last week on a test drive, the car rolled to a halt in the pretty village of Nailsworth in Gloucestershire. Mr Vince was forced to get out and push it to the side of the road to allow the queuing cars behind to drive past."

www.evo.co.uk...


Please face towards a wind farm while laughing, it will generate more clean, green energy to power this supercar.

the Tesla is also a Lotus,is it a joke too?

a reply to: Kester

What I find completely ignorant is that producers and inventors develop whole cars rather than just an engine.

Replacing engines on existing cars for electric substitutes would serve the masses better me thinks otherwise we're just dealing with a waste of time and resources to create rich toys with no potential for mass use.

Big oil STILL has it's boot firmly in the door.....parasites!

a reply to: blkcwbyhat

I don't know how much of a joke the Tesla is but I suspect this, www.independent.co.uk... may be an arranged argument to set different groups of supporters against each other much as the fake alternative media celebrities have fake rows to distract their followers.

Toyota seem to have dropped out. usfinancepost.com...

a reply to: nerbot

I worked for GM during the Impact,(EV-1) development in the late 80's.Really cool car! The problem with just swapping the power plant is the power!The bigger the car,the more motor it needs.The more motor,the more batteries.Where to put the battery? A complete new car can be designed light weight,and around the battery storage.To convert a gas to electric,you toss the engine,the transmission,and change the rear gear ratio....then find a place for batteries.Sure,a few batteries instead of a gas tank,a few in the trunk,a few under the hood......Every car is different.

a reply to: nerbot

I can't find much recent news on the Nemesis and I've never seen it on the road around Stroud. Perhaps the toy broke?

a reply to: blkcwbyhat

There are many rumours about more efficient battery designs being suppressed. Until lightweight batteries are available electric cars will be built around the batteries, and range will be limited thereby losing the advantage of cheaper fuel.

originally posted by: nerbot
a reply to: Kester

What I find completely ignorant is that producers and inventors develop whole cars rather than just an engine.

Replacing engines on existing cars for electric substitutes would serve the masses better me thinks otherwise we're just dealing with a waste of time and resources to create rich toys with no potential for mass use.

Big oil STILL has it's boot firmly in the door.....parasites!

What I find completely ignorant is thinking you can have thousands of electric or millions for that matter without upgrading the power grid. Currently in the US we are losing coal power generation because of legislation from the concept of Global Warming.The cost of energy is going up while we produce less. What's going to happen when you start mass producing electric cars that need recharged and recharged quickly?

It takes about 30 amps @ 220vac to get a quick charge to go 30 miles. thats 6600 watts, dump that on the grid by a 100K cars, now ask yourself how fast we can develop electric vehicles. I am not saying they aren't the way to go just that the grid has to be updated first for the loads and secured from EMP. Considering how screwed up governments are that should take at least 10 years.

a reply to: Kester
Granted,we need better battery designs.As far as being suppressed,I do not know.Maybe the manufacturing methods are too $$$,the materials too $$,whatever.As far as the PTB are concerned,I doubt they are involved.There were never any 100 mpg carburetors,no cars running on water,so on.Yes,range will be limited,due to the weight of the batteries we have now.I can double the range of your current vehicle,just double the gas tank!
Currently,vehicle are always designed with a 300 mile range,or there about.Bigger car,bigger tank.People would be annoyed if they had a smaller tank,filling up more often.How often do you go to the gas station? How long are you actually in your car? How far do you drive a week? Lets say you fill up monday am. 20 gallons at 4 bucks per,so 80 bucks,and you get 20 mpg. A 10 mile drive to work,so 1 gal a day round trip.5 days a week,so 5 gal a week,20 bucks for 100 miles.
An EV with a range of 130 miles will last a week between charges,with some to spare,and cost a couple of bucks at the most to recharge.Sure,it may take overnite to recharge,but your asleep!
For 90% of the population,an EV would be ideal for around town use.If you plan a long road trip,rent a gas vehicle with what you saved up on gas!

a reply to: blkcwbyhat

I don't know about any of this stuff. open.salon.com... As a simple bicycle commuter it's all beyond me. I've been told small batteries of this type are used in the drones that surveil the UK.

I don't know where to find a link but I once read about a battery inventor who was on his way to sell his design. He was allegedly found dead from a heart attack in his car in the airport car park. The theory is he was killed by a directed energy weapon. I've personally been shot with a directed energy weapon the day after carrying out a political action calculated to set the peace keepers in Gloucestershire Constabulary against the traitors in GCHQ. That part of the story I can relate to. All you doubters, you weren't there, you can stick your doubt wherever you want.

I agree, EV's would be great for around town use, with an added noise to warn pedestrians and cyclists.

a reply to: Kester
added noise would ruin it! The neatest thing I ever saw was the impact doing a burnout! No engine noise,just tire squeeling and smoke!