The BBC Radio 4 electric ride team completed last week its 4,500 miles (7,242km) electric vehicle road trip with crossing the finish line of the 2010 Brighton to London Eco Rally.

One month ago, the BBC team around TV presenter Peter Curran boarded an EV THINK in London to take it for a little 7,242km long road trip across Europe. They crossed Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal before coming back to the UK.

Kevin Dawson, BBC Electric Ride senior producer, said in a statement that in their choice of an EV they were looking for “a ready-to-market fully electric vehicle, with a good driving range and respectable top speed”.

Endurance test

The EV proved to be a reliable car for longer trips. Not one breakdown or malfunction was reported over the total length of the Europe grand tour. Of course, the THINK has a top speed of only 62 mph (100km/h) but it is designed as a city car after all. During the summer and with the heater off, this EV can travel in between 170 km and 203 km on one charge.

Charging was not a problem as there was always a plug around. Only crossing the Alps, battery charge was running low as the mountain restaurant where the team had planned to recharge, was closed that day. But regenerative breaking saved the day by feeding the battery the few % charge it needed to reach the next plug.

Listen in on the road trip

During their travel through Europe, the team recorded the "BBC Electric Ride", an audio journal for sharing their impressions on driving an EV in real life while investigating electric vehicle policies and charging infrastructure in the countries they passed through. They also set up interviews with major car manufacturers in the vicinity of which they happened to come and talked to Volvo, Volkswagen, Ferrari, Seat, Renault...

Stylish homecoming

The BBC team drove their EV home just in time to participate in the Revolve Bridgestone Eco-Rally, a race about driving the distance Brighton-London with the best carbon footprint, and officially ended their 12-country trip in crossing the finishing line.

Peter Curran's conclusion of the Europe trip on EV: “The feeling, quite simply, is electric.”