Zero Emissions Race - Around The World in 80 Days With Zero Emission Vehicles - Has Successfully Arrived in Shanghai

Shanghai, Oct 5, 2010 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Zero Emissions Race has successfully arrived in Shanghai, China, after 46 days on the road and 16783 kms of driving across Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and China. Out of the four teams that started the race on August 16th in Geneva, Switzerland with their 100 % electric vehicles, three have made it to Shanghai successfully on time, and according to original schedule. This accomplishment represents a major milestone in the history of electric vehicles. The Zero Race just helped prove the efficiency and reliability of electric mobility, even when driving across continents, in deserts and mountains and through variable road and weather conditions.

During this longest and hardest electric car race ever, the challenges of the Zero Race have been extremely hard to cope with at times at a personal level, exacerbated by the fatigue of 500 km daily driving, and the tough road conditions in many places. Despite these difficulties, according to tour director Louis Palmer, "the teams are doing extraordinary well, and the race has arrived according to schedule in Shanghai, where they can now enjoy a few days for maintenance, cleaning and preparations for maritime shipping to Vancouver Canada. So far, no major technical difficulties have occurred with the cars"

Vehicles are reliable and efficient

The aim of the race is to show that zero emission vehicles running on renewable energies are technologies for the future that are ready, and reliable already today. With shrinking resources and the impacts of global climate change, the ZERO Race strives to present the solutions for a better and greener future.

The ZERO Race is not about speed, but about other judgment criteria including vehicle reliability, energy efficiency, utility to every day life, design and safety. Almost each day, the teams face competition against new criteria in these categories, and they receive points according to their performance in each. So far, the Swiss team is leading ahead of Germany and Australia, while the South Korean Team had dropped out of the race due to technical difficulties.

The Zero Race is the world's longest green event

The ZERO Race is a "green" event, and participants are doing everything possible to travel in a responsible way. Any greenhouse gas emissions created from the event, including the shipping of cars and flights by participants, will be compensated by investments into renewable energy projects through myclimate. Each team already produced enough power for their vehicle from renewable energy sources including as solar and wind, and this has been fed into the grid in their home country.

What is ahead

Three vehicles from Switzerland, Germany, and Australia are expected to arrive at the next World Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of November, and the race should come to an end in January where it started: at United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. If that comes true, Jules Verne's dream of travelling around the world in 80 days would have come true - via a more ecologically sustainable way.

Some of the sponsoring companies include:

- Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX:GXY) (PINK:GALXF)
- Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)
- Oerlikon Corporation AG (VTX:OERL)
- ABN Newswire

Contact

Louis Palmer Tour Director Tel: +41-79-343-88-01 (sms only) Email: louis.palmer@zero-race.com