Attempt to drive across UK in solar powered car

A former BBC broadcaster is attempting to drive across the UK in a solar-powered electric vehicle (EV).

Jeremy Hart, who was a Formula 1 commentator for many years, is leading a team of four people on the 1,000 mile (1,609km) journey from Lands End to John O'Groats.

The group want to demonstrate how solar power can be used in combination with electric charging units to create renewable energy for transportation.

Despite the UK's reputation among some for bad weather, he said: "The UK actually, bizarrely, with our mixture of rain and increasingly warm weather, is not a bad place at all to run solar panels," Hart said.

"What we're doing is a bit out of the ordinary, but it's not beyond the realms of very close reality, in the next couple of years," he added.

Hart spent 20 years working as a Formula 1 presenter and commentator and 10 years on the World Rally Championship for the BBC.

He has embarked on several challenges, including driving around the world and taking a Formula E electric racing car to the Arctic.

"I just love finding amazing things to do with cars which haven't been done before," said Hart.

"As far as we can tell, nobody has ever taken a family electric vehicle and powered it entirely by the good old British summer sunshine."

Electric cars sales have increased over the years but very few are fuelled solely by solar power.

The team will charge their car at solar farms using an EV charger, with the help of backup portable solar-charged battery units.

On the first day of the challenge - named the Easee Sun Run - the team will mark the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire and charge up at the UK's first commercial solar park near Chard, Somerset.

Over the coming days they will visit various solar installations throughout the UK, aiming to reach John O'Groats in Scotland on 24 June.

"The Easee Sun Run goes a long way to showing what clean mobility is capable of today," said Anthony Fernandez, CEO of electric vehicle company Easee.

"In connecting electric vehicles, renewable generation and energy storage into one flexible ecosystem that works together efficiently, clean transport can become more resilient and more accessible," he added.

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