Stars in an electric car

Jay Leno has taken a leaf out of Jeremy Clarkson's book and decided to put some stars in a reasonably priced car. Well, that's not quite true, because while Leno is perhaps the most famous petrol head outside of Top Gear's trio, Clarkson and Co might take issue with the car Leno has chosen.

That's because having built a track outside the studio of his new show, Leno will be putting stars in a Ford Focus battery electric vehicle (BEV). That's right, a Suzuki Liana is one thing, but racing in a zero-emissions electric car is probably not the Top Gear way.

Tonight (Friday 18th September 2009) will see Drew Barrymore take the wheel of an 'electric orange' Ford Focus BEV, which is actually based on a European Focus ST and was converted by Ford engineers in America. The 141bhp car is powered by a magnetic electric motor getting its juice from a pack of 98 lithium ion batteries. It has 236lb.ft of pulling power - the same as a Golf 2.0-litre TDI - so it's no slouch, and as if to prove that it's fitted with a pair of racing bucket seats and a full roll cage.

There's no word on who else will take the wheel during the 'Green Car Challenge' segment of Leno's nightly show, although it's reported that three celebs per week will participate. Our money is on Kanye West this week, who might find a dose of clean publicity useful after his controversial appearance on this week's MTV awards. And after him? Taylor Swift, of course.

Mark Nichol