Between Climate Week and the raging conflicts in oil-rich areas like the Middle East, Crimea and, to a lesser extent, Scotland, reminders are everywhere of the long-term pressure to shift civilian transportation from fossil fuels to more sustainable sources of energy.
The one company you probably know that is capitalizing on this pressure is Tesla, the manufacturer known for hawking $70,000 luxury electric vehicles from tiny mall courts rather than expansive suburban lots. Now a potential competitor looks to be in development in, of all places, Turkey.
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The Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s official press arm, has reported that a new prototype vehicle, the T-1, has just finished up a 2,500 kilometer (1,553 mile) road tour through the Turkish mainland. Designed and created by 25 professors and students at Istanbul University’s Electrical Engineering department, the 500-pound electric vehicle apparently completed its odyssey at a cost of a mere $17.
That averages out to 91 miles for a single greenback. By comparison, a fuel-powered vehicle with fairly decent efficiency can get about 30 miles per gallon of fuel on a good day. Even with average gas prices now under $3.50 a gallon in most U.S. states, it’s not hard to imagine the savings that a consumer version of the T-1 could bring to drivers.
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Right now, the T-1 is finishing its tour of Turkey then heading back to Istanbul, where its design will be further honed by the university team. Whether anything ever becomes of it, time will tell. At the moment, though, a production model of the T-1 could be a faraway goal. This particular prototype cost over $200,000 to build and produce, according to Engin Topaloğlu, one of the students involved in the project. A consumer model would probably be unfeasibly expensive.
The T-1 was created as part of a competition run by Turkish scientific and research agency TÜBİTAK.
Via Hurriyet Daily News and the Anadolu Agency.
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