Gordon Murray T27 electric car unveiled

Gordon Murray has unveiled the T27 electric car, expected to cost under £15k and go in to production in 2012.

We first learned that the Gordon Murray T27 Electric Car was heading for an iStream process somewhere in the world back in late 2009.

An electric version of the Gordon Murray Design T25 it was designed to be, and has now become, exactly what an electric car should be; a simple to build, uncomplicated people mover for congested urban environments. The perfect way round congested cities – and for three people.

No, the T27 doesn’t really look like our rather narrow view of a car, but then the T27 isn’t really a car. It’s a way of moving people round a city without emissions (at the point of use); an individual city taxi, if you like. An alternative to taking trhe tube or hailing a cab.

The T27 will do 0-62mph in 15 seconds and the far more important (in town) 0-30mph in…we don’t know. But with a kerb weight of just 680kg and an electric motor with 25kW it’s going to buzz around town as quickly as anything. And at just 2.5M long it short enough – just about – to park nose-in.

The lithium-ion battery pack in the T27 takes 4.5 hours to recharge to 80% and is will take the T27 for 100 miles on a full charge. We’re pleased to see Gordon being absolutely frank about emissions with figures of 43g/km CO₂ for the combined cycle and 33g/km CO₂ for the urban cycle based on the typical UK energy mix. Not that CO₂ matters – apart from to politicians – but so good to see Gordon declaring the emissions of an electric car.

Gordon Murray has developed the T27 in less than 18 months   – with the help of Zytek and funding from the Technology and Strategy Board – and Gordon reckons that the T27 could be in production – using his iStream production methods – as early as next year.

If we want an alternative to ICE cars in our towns and cities, this is the route to go for now. What’s the point in a Focus sized car for twice the money (the LEAF) when the T27 moves three around town for £15,000, and that’s before the daft £5k subsidy?

The first chance to see the T27 in the flesh will be the this year’s RAC Future Car Challenge, from Brighton to London on 5th November. Which to us seems barking. Wouldn’t it have made far more sense – when the bulk of these ‘Future’ cars are going to be electric – to do something like drive the London Marathon route? Far more appropriate.

The electric car is still not the route to the future, but if we have to have it, the T27 is probably it.