A team of Gateshead College employees will be hitting the road over the next six months to trial a new electric vehicle manufactured in the North East.
The college is among an initial wave of regional organisations to be given an electric vehicle produced by Cramlington-based Avid Vehicles. The trial is part of the Government funded Switch EV project – a nationwide initiative examining the potential for electrical vehicles and encouraging more people to consider using them.
It’s the largest programme of its kind in the world, and will see around 340 electric vehicles tested on the UK’s roads by a variety of organisations including councils and motoring clubs.
The College’s AutoSkills Centre team, who deliver professional, accredited training to the motor industry, are now the owners of an Avid CUE-V (compact urban electric vehicle).
Over the coming months, the team, based at Team Valley, Gateshead, will put the car through its paces on the region’s roads to find out exactly how well it performs and how drivers react to it. They will look at factors such as reliability, build quality and performance levels.
The team will also record how far the car can travel between battery recharges, for which they’ll use the college’s two charging points based at the AutoSkills Centre and the main Baltic Campus on Gateshead Quays.
Once the trial is complete, experts from Newcastle University will assess the data collected by the college and other participants in the project to produce a final report.
Mick Brophy, managing director of business, innovation and development at Gateshead College, said:
“Electric vehicles are being hailed as the future for motoring, particularly here in the North East. As the college is playing a key role in this new automotive revolution, by designing and delivering a new suite of ‘green’ training required by the industry developing, maintaining and manufacturing the new vehicles and technologies, it made sense for us to be involved in actually road testing the electric cars too.
Gateshead College is the preferred training partner for Nissan, the manufacturers of the new LEAF and delivers the UK’s first electric vehicle apprenticeship in partnership with Smiths Electric Vehicles.
Nick Gianfreda from Avid Vehicles said: “It’s key that we understand how people react to electric vehicles and their take-up.
“The information captured by the college team will provide vital feedback on things like how people react to electric cars and how they feel before and after driving them.
“It will help us to assess the potential for electrical vehicle growth in this country and the long term impact.
“We also want to set this region up as a major hub for the development of electric vehicles. We’ve got the infrastructure set up, now we want the people of the North East to experience them.”
Dr Colin Herron, manufacturing and productivity manager at One North East, said: “This is a great example of a local business entering the new low carbon economy. The Switch EV project will help bring together local production and develop the skills require for the new technology.
“Together with the recent announcement that the test track and workshop building at Nissan has been signed over to Gateshead College on a 20-year lease, its another example of how the North East is a leader in the development of the low carbon vehicle industry in the UK.”
Source: Gateshead College
April 14, 2011