First green vehicles track opens for North of England 23 January 2012

Transport Minister Norman Baker MP has officially opened the Zero Carbon Futures Performance Track and Low Emission vehicle development centre in Washington, Tyne & Wear.

The centre is designed to facilitate development of transport for the future, providing a location for academics, automotive manufacturers and system developers to test and trial new technologies.

The 92-acre test track at Nissan's Sunderland plant has been signed over to Gateshead College on a 20-year lease as the nation's first performance track for low carbon vehicles, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids.

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport Baker took the inaugural drive around the test track, in a Smith Edison all-electric van, produced by Smith Electric Vehicles.

Smith Electric, which is also based in Washington, has leased the first of the track's five workshops for its own vehicle development work.

Author
John Challen

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