Looking rather a lot like the remote controlled car I wish I had owned in the 80’s the Yokohama EV Sports Concept HER-02 Buggy (bit of a mouthful of a name, I know) is going to be making an assault on the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, a 12.5 mile, 4,271 foot climb around 156 corners and is hoping to beat its predecessors time of 14:50.754 set last year, incidentally the quickest time for any car is 10:01.408.

The electric buggy uses an AC motor with twin lithium ion battery packs developed by Sanyo in Japan and is rolling on proprietary Yokohama ADVAN® ENV-R2™ orange oil infused tires that are said to reduce rolling resistance and improve energy efficiency by as much as 20%. If you paused for a moment there when you read “orange oil infused tires” you aren’t alone, it took us by surprise as well. Turns out the tires are made using natural rubber and oil from used orange peels in place of petroleum products which makes the tires far easier to recycle and as a bonus, makes them better performers on the road as well.

We’ll update with a full race video and results when they become available.