Racing at the Japan EV Festival On November 3, 2009 the Sanoh electric vehicle (EV) racing team, EV Dreams, participated in the 15th Annual Japan EV Festival at the Tsukuba Circuit in Ibaraki prefecture.
EV Dreams has been participating in the event every year since 1997. The 1-hour endurance-class Convert EV 1-Hour Distance Challenge in which the team took part was the eleventh Festival race for EV Dreams, more than that for any other of the 24 participating teams. EV Dreams is a collective effort by volunteer Sanoh employees, and the team owns two electric automobiles: the Coupe EV (Suzuki Fronte Coupe base) and the Beat EV (Honda Beat base). Both EVs are equipped with Ni-MH batteries developed by Sanoh, and to date they have participated in 33 races in total and have had 13 championships. This year, the team participated with the Beat EV vehicle and achieved a ranking of 8th place out of the 17 vehicles that completed the race.
The number of new people wishing to participate in EV Dreams has been increasing, and as the next team activity, the group is planning to develop an electric racing cart. Sanoh continues to support young employees that undertake the challenge toward a creative spirit for the handmade.
