Albie Burgers is a farmer, environmentalist and inventor who lives with his wife Felicity on a bushy 120 acre property near the Kahurangi National Park in Kotinga, where they grow cows, sheep and trees.
Over the years he's been involved in many alternative energy projects, the latest of which is "Li'l Blue" a 1988 Daihatsu Charade that's been converted to electric.
Albie says “the electric motor came from an fork lift machine and is controlled by a computer that determines how much energy is put into the motor depending on how far you’ve put your foot on the throttle”
The car’s lead acid batteries are being replaced with 24 lithium batteries that will increase its range from 25 to 100 kilometres and now Albie plans to attach solar panels to the car.
“You could put a solar panel on the roof rack and we will build a light aluminum trailer with room for two more solar panels and that will give us 900 watts so the car could drive on purely solar power!”
