BOUTIQUE Melbourne car-maker Bolwell has announced plans to build Australia"s first fully electric, zero emissions sports car.

Mordialloc-based Bolwell, which makes truck bodies, is investigating a battery-powered version of its Nagari, a low-slung, luxurious $200,000-plus supercar which is only months away from reaching the market.

Marketing manager Owen Bolwell told Drive that his father, Campbell, one of three brothers who created the famous V8-engined Nagari of the 1970s, was in the US to look at electric systems that could one day power an Australian-made car.

He said Campbell had recently driven the Tesla Roadster, a fully electric car developed by California niche car maker Tesla, as well as looked at a Karma hybrid sedan to be built by Fisker, another California niche manufacturer, that uses a small petrol motor to charge a bank of batteries.

Owen said Campbell was convinced that Bolwell could develop a similar system for the Nagari."

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