Electric Commodore breaks EV distance record

The Australian-engineered and developed fully-electric Holden Commodore has unofficially broken the world distance record set by a production electric car, achieving 1886 kilometres of pure electric driving over a 24-hour period on the weekend.

EV Engineering, the Melbourne-based, purpose-built multi-company collaboration behind the Commodore EV’s development, says the unofficial new record, achieved on Sunday, was enabled through the “ground-breaking” battery-switch technology of EV Engineering member, Better Place.

Using the one EV, a team of 16 engineers drove one 122km loop each on public roads in Melbourne, between Port Melbourne and Geelong. At the end of each lap, the Commodore’s depleted battery – with between 20 and 25 per cent charge left (indicating a total range of 150km) – was switched in the EV Engineering workshop, with a total of 15 battery switches over the 24 hours.

EV Engineering says the mechanism used to switch the battery was a scaled-down version of Better Place’s battery switch stations that are set to be rolled out in Australia in the near future. Australia will be the company’s third global roll-out market after Israel and Denmark, where operational battery switch stations are already in place.

“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 CEO of EV Engineering, 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 in order to recharge. We were able to just drive, switch, and keep going.

“We are very proud of the team’s efforts this weekend. It shows that with battery switch, the age of the electric car has truly arrived”, Mr McCleave said.