The SRzero electric sportscar from Imperial College in London completed two orbits of the M25 motorway on a single charge, breaking the one lap record set by the folk at FHM magazine driving a Tesla.
Total distance, including the trip from its Imperial College HQ and back, was 264 miles with the energy meter still at 14% full at the end.
The car started out at 2:30am aiming to maintain 55mph on the motorway.
"The half time energy score was only 42% used so that gave us the confidence to power on into the next lap and up the speeds slightly so that we could get back to bed," said systems engineer Toby Schulz. "On the second lap we averaged nearly 60mph - it would have been higher had it not been for hitting the start of rush hour. On the second lap we were also able to turn off the headlights giving us an estimated energy saving of nearly 1kWh."
SRzero is based on a chassis and body from Peterborough-based Radical Sportscars, and the M25 rest is part of the build-up to the Imperial's Racing Green Endurance (RGE) team attempt to drive the 26,000km Pan American Highway in July.
There is a video.
www.RacingGreenEndurance.com