EcoVelocity in London

EcoVelocity is an outdoor car show with a difference. This eco-conscious motor show celebrates all things green. High-performance vehicles at this year's EcoVelocity show in London prove that electric vehicles can look great and deliver blistering—and eco-friendly—speed and fuel efficiency.

Our reporter Li Dong has the details.

 If you look carefully at the backs of the cars at the show, you will notice there are no exhaust pipes. All of them are 100-percent electric—and emissions 1-free.

But despite their lack of a gas-powered engine, cars like this Nemesis 2 are actually faster than a Ferrari V12. These silent assassins are capable of eye-watering speeds that put their gas-guzzling cousins to shame on the road. The Nemesis can do 0 to 100 miles per hour in 8.5 seconds and has a top-speed of 170 miles per hour.

The green motor show is the first of its kind in the UK and serves as an antidote 3 to some of the fuel-thirsty shows of the auto 4 industry.

Giles Brown is Director of the EcoVelocity show,

"A lot of people say that green cars are dull and aren't entertaining to drive, [but] I've driven some of these cars and they're absolutely fantastic. Acceleration 5 is phenomenal, top speed is amazing. They're completely different from any sort of normal car, but the experience is absolutely electric."

Graham Butterworth from the EV Cup is here promoting a new all-electric race car series. The EVCUP will begin at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track in California at the end of November and move to Europe in 2012.

One of the biggest problems that race organizers face is compensating 6 for the lack of noise. Some of the thrill of motor racing 7 is the howling, high-revving engines, and sensor 8 needles bouncing off the redline. Instead, the organizers of the EVCUP say they will play music and provide sound effects.

Butterworth says while the electric cars might lack in volume, they won't lack in performance.

"This car is pretty quick. It's just been on the track for the first time. I took it out the other day and within a couple of miles of going out in it, literally 9 turning a wheel for the first time, I was doing 115 miles per hour no problem at all. And it's got tremendous acceleration. So, its acceleration to get there is very, very fast indeed."

While electric vehicle racing is still in its infancy 10, promoting electric cars among the public is more practical for reducing emissions.

One prominent participant in the EcoVelocity show is London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Best known for cycling through the capital using pedal power, Johnson is keen to stamp his green credentials 11 on the capital ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

He says his main challenge is to change negative perceptions about electric vehicles.

"One of the difficulties about getting people to take up electric vehicles - and that is 'range anxiety.' People are anxious that when they get into an electric vehicle that their battery may conk out, and they'll be stranded 12. So, if you have charge points dotted around the city in the way that we're doing, we hope to defeat that anxiety and get people to take up electric vehicles."

Johnson claims London is the electric vehicle capital of Europe with some 2,000 to 3,000 registered electric cars.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.