Students from Cambridge University have built an ultra-efficient electric car that drives using only as much power as it takes to boil a kettle.
The Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) student society built the four-seater car, named Helia, with efficiency as the main goal.
Their achievement has been to produce a car that can travel 80 kilometres-per-hour using only 2500 watts, or as much power as it takes to boil a single kettle, which is equivalent to 31 watt-hours-per-kilometre.
For comparison's sake, CUER points out that the Tesla Model 3 needs eight kettles' worth of power to achieve the same output, while the Volkswagen e-Golf needs nine, and the BMW i3 requires nine and a half.

CUER's programme director, Xiaofan Zhang, said the achievement was possible because electric vehicle (EV) technology had developed so far in a short space of time. "These innovations have allowed us to build a four-seat car that is much faster, more efficient and practical," he said.
Zhang said the team had leveraged the knowhow of UK automative companies in developing Helia.

"Currently there is a lot of news about the decline of the UK's automotive industry, but working with our partners has shown us that there is a very strong network of automotive companies," Zhang said.
"Many of our partners are world leaders in automotive engineering, research and development, and high-value manufacturing but are not necessarily household names."

CUER set out aiming for...