Eco Charger Eliminator 2

The drive to switch to electric vehicles doesn’t stop when the tarmac ends — Liam Bell tests the latest model of the Eco Charger quad bike

As someone who has admired Elon Musk’s Tesla cars from afar, I was delighted and a little excited to be offered the use of a fully electric quad for a week to field test for Shooting Times.

Things are moving on as far as the use and development of electric vehicles are concerned. I feel that as things progress and new ideas and technology come to the fore, electric vehicles will become the norm. It might not happen for another 25 or 30 years, but it is most definitely coming.

The all-electric Eco Charger is the brainchild of Devon farmer Fred Chugg, who was looking for a more economical and environmentally friendly way to run his quad trekking centre in the West Country.

He was spending upwards of £300 a day on fuel filling up the trekking quads and thought electric vehicles would be the answer. He couldn’t find anyone making or selling electric quads — so he started making them. The Eco Charger is now so successful you can even buy one in Australia.

Same size

Fred’s first attempt was the conversion of a 125cc bike in 2011. The one I tested, which has the equivalent power of 450cc petrol engine, has a British-made motor, uses gel batteries from south Wales and is put together in Weston-super-Mare, though the chassis is from Asia.