Suzuki Every EV goes 800+ miles on single charge

You could take a flight from New York City to Atlanta, and the trip would run you about two hours. Or you could theoretically take a specially-fitted Suzuki Every battery-electric van on that same route. It would take you about 43 hours, but you'd do it on just one charge.

One really patient team of drivers in Japan last week managed to set a world record for a single-charge electric-vehicle run by driving an Every van a whooping 1,300 kilometers (813 miles), reports the Japan Times. The drivers, including former Dakar Rally winner Kenjiro Shinozuka, chose a leisurely pace, driving at an average rate of about 18 miles per hour through the streets of Ogata village in Japan's Akita Prefecture. With the previous record at about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles), the newspaper says the team will be filing a request with the Guinness Book of World Records for recognition.

Suzuki started distributing a limited number – very limited, as in, only about a dozen – of the battery-electric Every van to Japanese dealerships during the summer of 2011. That version had a lithium-ion battery pack that provided a more normal single-charge range of up to 62 miles while carrying a 550-pound load.