Considering the fragility of the ecosystem, the buzz in today’s automobile industry is towards green transportation. With an aim of doing its bit towards Corporate Environment Responsibility, Land Rover SA has come up with an innovative battery powered, all electric game viewer that has combined in its design, the features of Land Rover’s famed Defender. Designed to have zero exhaust emissions, this battery powered Defender is in true sense a “green” vehicle. Developed by Barker Performance Products, the `Lectric Landy is an all South African project that received technical assistance from Land Rover and which made its debut at the recently concluded Indaba 2011, Africa’s largest tourism event at Durban, South Africa from May 7-10.
The concept for the `Lectric Landy was born when Londolozi, a top game park of South Africa put in a request for an ecologically sensitive vehicle. In turn, Axeon, Europe’s leading battery manufacturer came up with an innovative 300V and 27kW-hour air cooled lithium-ion battery. Considering that this was sufficient enough to drive a 59kW air cooled AC induction motor that had a regenerative capacity of 10 kW and 330 Nm of instantaneous torque, the all-electric four wheeler was adapted around the battery without compromising on the Defender’s wading depth, seating capacity as well as its ground clearance.
The resultant four wheeler was good not just for its exteriors but also for a drive of about 80 kms with a reserve battery charge for an additional 20 kms. This was almost eight times more than a typical electric vehicle which is used for game drives. Additionally it also had built-in facilities for a single phase charger that could be plugged into a 220V power supply for charging. No doubt the charging takes time, but then it is absolutely okay considering that the all-electric game viewer has zero tailpipe emissions and operates noiselessly, a fact which immensely suits game park excursions.
Furthermore, the efficiency of the `Lectric Landy was also tested thoroughly at the Gerotek Vehicle Testing facility at Pretoria where it comfortably met the off-road performance standards set for all Defenders in general, thereby proving itself absolutely worthy of the Land Rover tag. With the Londolozi Game Park showing the way by adapting the all-electric Defender its time other game parks too followed suit and went green. After-all it’s for the longevity of the currently fragile ecosystem!
Via: iol Motoring
