Looks like Virgin Group's founder, Richard Branson wants to compete with Tesla in the car business.
At last week's Formula E electric car grand prix in Miami, Richard Branson was asked by Bloomberg News how he could use his team's racing technology in the market.
"We have teams of people working on electric cars," Virgin's head honcho confirmed, adding that Virgin might compete with the Tesla in the car business just like the company does in the space business.
Formula E is the world's first international, all-electric racing event; its goal is to push the edges of electric-cars technology in races from Beijing to Monte Carlo. As opposed to the roar of Formula 1, the cars are comparatively silent. Although they are fast off the start, right now they max out at 160 mph.
Besides a space program, the Virgin brand also envelops some hotels, wireless phone service, a few airlines and a media empire - so the company has no reason why it wouldn't churn out some electronic cars for us, as well.
Engadget noted that there is nothing at all concrete about Branson's statement. Chances are a lot of things might happen. What's undeniable, though, is Branson's general dislike for more conventional, petrol-guzzling cars. Branson has been seen tooling around in a Saab 9-5 BioPower station wagon, and he stated again today that he hopes 10 years from now, the smell of exhausts from cars will be a thing of the past just like the smell of cigarettes in restaurants.
According to AutomotiveNews, the Virgin brands founder is not the only one flirting with electric cars. Tech giant, Apple has been secretly working on an electric vehicle, which probably will be ready for production as early as 2020. Search engine giant, Google is not far behind either and is reportedly building an electric car that drives itself.
That said, almost every major carmaker either is working on an electric car or has an electric vehicle in production.
Virgin Racing's website cites global warming indicating the fact that we don't have the luxury to choose between internal combustion engines or electric cars. In addition, pollution in cities is yet another reason we have to make electric cars a reality as soon as possible.
Electric cars' efficiency is far greater than all forms of propulsion currently in use thus the electric cars are the future.
