Murray on charge

Gordon Murray, the man behind the McLaren F1 supercar, is going electric!

The Government has announced it’s giving the car maker £4.5million to create a battery-powered version of his long-awaited city car, the T.25.

The electric runaround could arrive on roads by 2013. The new model,the T.27, will share its 2.5-metre long, 1.4-metre wide dimensions with the petrol-engined T.25, and is slated to be the world’s most efficient electric car, due to its low 600kg weight. The unique design uses a light, plastic shell, instead of metal.

Murray told Auto Express: “We will have four prototypes up and running by February 2011. We are likely to license the T.25 to another manufacturer, but we want to keep the T.27 in the UK.

It will be very light and efficient, but will be a proper Euro NCAP-compliant car, not a quadricycle.” He also said the T.27 will use the latest lithium-ion battery technology to travel 80 to 100 miles on a six-to-eight hour charge from a 13-amp socket.