This year, Pikes Peak will once again be crawling with electric vehicles. Mitsubishi will be there with its i-MiEV-based racer and the Pikes Peak EV Challenge Committee has just announced it will bring a new all-electric car to scale the 14,110-foot height in Colorado this July.
The prototype vehicle will be developed by Team APEV, where APEV stands for the Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles, and will be driven by Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima. Tajima has won the contest for the last six years, breaking the ten-minute barrier for the first time last year. But that was in a gas-powered car, which isn't nearly as cool as doing it with zero emissions. The coolest part, for real, is that Team APEV and Monster Sports will be participating to help victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake disaster as well as promoting environmental education projects for children and "projects to promote active participation from the senior citizens of Japan."
In 2011, two EVs, a Nissan Leaf and a custom EV from AC Propulsion, made the climb.
Source: Autoblog Green
