Motorists check out penny-a-mile Smarts

Monday 14th July 2008, 2:29PM BST.

ELECTRIC motoring for less than 1p a mile sparked interest at the weekend. The Electric Vehicle Company was inundated with visitors wanting to find out more about the Guernsey Smart EV.

After four years of development, the car gives a range of up to 65 miles, regulated to a top speed of about 42mph. Local production of the vehicle has now started.

‘We felt that the island was the ideal place for electric cars. We talked about it for ages and said in the end, let’s make one,’ said Electric Vehicle Company director Mark Parr (pictured).

‘We spent four years developing it for here, have done five different prototypes now and got it to the stage where we’ve developed something we think is practical for island use.’