Rhys Millen – Electric King of the Mountain

Rhys Millen’s win at this years Pikes Peak International Hill climb was historic for a couple reasons.  Not least of which is that it marks the first time an electric vehicle has scored the overall win.  He also managed to beat Greg Tracy’s record, which was set last year in the Mitsubishi MiEV III, by just one second with a time of 9:07.222, but that second was enough.  Clearly, as you will see in the interview here, Rhys was not entirely satisfied with just the overall win along with beating the existing electric class record.  He figures the car, the eO PP03, should ave been another 30+ seconds faster.  Turns out, he lost the rear power unit less than half way into his run, which essentially means he had to drag the lifeless ass end of the car the remaining 6 miles to the summit.  That fact alone screams at the true potential of electric vehicles at Pikes Peak.  Is it just a matter of time that an electric car will leap ahead of Sebastien Loebs record of 8:13?

Here’s our brief interview with Rhys on the summit, where he takes a moment to take a few jabs at his very good friend, Greg Trachy, after eclipsing Greg’s record from the previous year.

To learn more about Rhys MIllen and Rhys Millen Racing, Click Here.

Here are some of our favorite photos of Rhys from this year’s race.