Gordon Murray's electric city car gets green light

The UK Government tonight announced a major investment in Gordon Murray's radical new city car project. A £9 million grant will fund development of the T27, an electric city car successor to the original T25 being designed in the UK by the maverick engineer behind the McLaren F1 and numerous racing cars.

The money will be spent designing and producing four prototypes over a 16-month period, with the eventual aim of putting an electric car with sustainable manufacturing processes into full production here in the UK. 

The T27 will be the follow-up to the petrol-powered T25, a small city car designed by jointly by Gordon Murray Design and Zytek Automotive technology. Neither car has been unveiled officially yet, kept under wraps at presentations so far (as pictured) or shown as design doodles. 

Murray said: 'The iStream manufacturing process behind the T25 and T27 is all about sustainable, low-energy process by design. The T27 programme is a great opportunity for us and our partners to create what will be the world’s most efficient electric vehicle.'

Zytek is a British firm best known for its work with Mercedes on the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) technology used by some F1 teams in 2009. It also developed hybrid drive systems for Le Mans series cars.

Science and innovation minister Lord Drayson is set to put a petrol-powered T25 through its paces on Thursday. Prototypes of the electric T27 are scheduled to be complete by February 2011.

By Gareth Evans