His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Henning Solberg will both be on the starting line of the Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS) Viking Rally 2009. The competition, set to take place 11-13 May , is a road rally from Oslo to Stavanger for zero emissions vehicles only.
Among the participants are four electric vehicles by Mitsubishi, Lampo, Tesla and Elbil Norge, two hydrogen cars by Ford and Toyota, and one electric-hydrogen combination made by Think. Solberg and HRH Crown Prince Haakon will participate on the first leg of the competition, in Ford’s hydrogen model.
The rally is organised jointly by the Royal Norwegian Automobile Club (KNA) and the Norwegian Automobile-Sport Federation, with support from other environmental and automotive organisations.
KNA Director of Communications Hallgeir Raknerud said: “As a responsible motorist organisation, we take global warming seriously. The Royal Norwegian Automobile Club (KNA) organised the first car race for climate friendly vehicles as early as 1993. Our view is that driving can be both enjoyable and practical regardless of fuel.”
The rally finishes at the opening of EVS-24 Towards Zero Emission, a world congress and exhibition for electric, hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, with participants from 40 countries. The exhibition will take place in Stavanger on 13-16 May 2009.
