Global trek's Imperial pit stop

To mark its first 100 years Ricardo Plc are touring the world in an electric car and recently paid a flying visit to Imperial College London.

This year Ricardo Plc, one of the UK’s leading engineering companies, celebrates its 100^th anniversary. To mark their first centenary the company are driving round the world in an electric car and included a stop at Imperial College London’s South Kensington campus.

Professor Tim Green and the Ricardo team

Originally founded in 1915 as Engine Patents Ltd, Ricardo have partnered with many different departments and researchers at Imperial during its history. When they were planning their route for the car the college was an obvious choice. “We were delighted to be asked to host the team on one of their stops. Imperial College has a long history of work with Ricardo and also the PPA Energy practice on vehicle technologies and energy networks,” says Professor Tim Green, Director of Energy Futures Lab “It is great to be part of the centenary celebration and fitting to have an electric vehicle as the symbol of that. We look forward to many more fruitful years of collaboration.”

On this, the 17^th leg of the journey Steve Brown and Sarahjane Widdowson were taking Sarahjane’s BMW i3 for a spin. Starting the morning in Harwell, Oxford they had already been interviewed by the BBC and stopped off in Guildford and Slough. On the way they picked up their colleagues Claire Newton and Tony Woods from Ricardo-AEA’s PPA Energy Practice who have worked with Professor Green on many projects over the last ten years.

Just before three o’clock the team pulled in off Exhibition road and parked up by Queens Tower. There were plenty of spectators as researchers from across the campus came to meet the visitors, sign the flag and get some photos taken with the car and at the college’s front entrance. After an hour being shown around the campus the team set off towards Marble Arch for their next appointment.

The Ricardo team with Professor Green and Professor Ricardo Martinez-Botas

The global trek is not just a nice way to mark 100 years but the company will also be raising money for charities, hoping to promote careers in science and engineering and marking the launch of their new research centre for low carbon vehicles at their headquarters in Shoreham, Southern England. You can follow their progress online with the online tracker.