Japanese Group Draws Attention to Electric Vehicles

A group of environmental activists and car engineers want to prove that available technology in electric-powered vehicles makes environmentally responsible motoring not only possible, but also preferable.

Members of the group set out from Tokyo for a 310 mile journey to the city of Osaka. The goal was to complete the trip without having to recharge the battery.

They say their 13-and-half-hour trip broke the record for electric vehicle endurance. The previous record was held by U.S. company Telsa Motors which managed 313 miles on a single charge.

The Mira EV, a two-seater manual-shift based on Daihatsu's Mira van, generates 74 kilowatts per hour. It’s almost five times the capacity of other electric vehicles in the Japanese market.

It carries enough battery power to run 1,386 laptop computers.

[Naotsugu Mihori, Vice President, Japan EV Club]:
"People are always putting down electric vehicles saying they're useless because they only can go short distances. Wouldn't you say the electric vehicle already available out there are good enough?"

Mihori hopes the world record will encourage consumers to try out more electric vehicles.

[Naotsugu Mihori, Vice President, Japan EV Club]:
"We hope people will realize that the capacity of the electric vehicles on the market now is good enough and I hope they will start buy them more readily and reduce their gasoline consumption and their carbon emissions."

The car didn’t come cheap… the group says it spent more than a million dollars to improve the car's performance, and added parts donated by Japanese firms.