Around the world in 80 days for solar powered cars

Teams from three continents have set off from the Place des Nations in Geneva with their electric cars on the longest and greenest race of all time, called the Zero Race.

The cars will cross to Moscow and Shanghai and then travel by ship to Vancouver. From there they will continue along the west coast of North America all the way to Cancun, Mexico.

In December, the vehicles will be shipped again to Portugal, and travel over southwest Europe to complete the final leg of the global journey. After 80 days, 30,000 kilometres through 16 countries and 150 city stopovers the race will be completed at the end of January 2011, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Louis Palmer, the Race Organiser said: We want to show that we have solutions, like electric cars and renewable energy."

Frank Loacker, one of the drivers said: "I think the biggest challenges are road conditions, and traffic, and pot holes somewhere in China or Kazakhstan."

Zero Race organisers say any unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions from shipping the cars across continents will be compensated by investments in renewable energy projects.