Electric Commodore claims unofficial World Distance Record

An Australian-designed and developed electrically-powered Holden Commodore has unofficially broken the world distance record for a production electric car.

The battery-switchable Holden Commodore, developed by EV Engineering in Melbourne, achieved a total 1886 kilometres of driving over a 24-hour period.

A team of engineers and technicians drove a series of 122 kilometre loops on public roads between Port Melbourne and Geelong between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

A support team operating a semi-automated battery switch station swapped the depleted battery for a fully-charged one at the end of each loop.

Organisers say the car’s batteries, which were swapped a total of 15 times, had between 20 and 25 per cent charge left at each change, indicating that a range of more than 150km would have been achievable.

“It’s a great feeling to see the electric car our team designed and developed here in Australia has beaten a world distance record. While our achievement is not an official record, it’s a sound validation of our car’s capabilities,” said EV Engineering CEO, Ian McCleave.

“When we began the project to develop a proof-of-concept electric Commodore, it was critical that we incorporate ground-breaking battery-switch technology. That’s what got us across the line. We were able to quickly switch our depleted battery for a fully charged one, so we didn’t have to park and plug in order to recharge. We were able to just drive, switch, and keep going.”

The mechanism used to switch the battery is a scaled-down version of the Battery Switch Stations that will be rolled out in Australia by Better Place, the leading global electric car recharge network. Australia is the third roll-out market for Better Place, which already has operational networks in Israel and Denmark.

The feat was independently scrutineered by the Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia (SAE), who observed the trial across its 24-hour duration.
SAE observers confirmed the event was completed on public roads, in compliance with local road laws, in one continuous 24-hour period, using a single vehicle driving only on electric power.

“The SAE recognises this is an important milestone in proving the suitability of electric vehicles for the Australian marketplace, and it demonstrates Australia’s world class automotive engineering capabilities,” said Geoff Pearson, Executive Director of the SAE.