Two directors explain why they quit the corporate grind to focus on building the world's first zero-emission electric Range Rover

Barry Shrier I made a decision to dedicate my career to addressing global warming. I wanted to focus on what appears to be our greatest challenge. I asked myself: "Do you want to be the generation which destroyed the planet or the generation that tried to do something about it?" So I left the comfortable corporate womb to launch Liberty Electric Cars.

Ian Hobday I came to France and set up my own consultancy business 18 months ago. I looked for non-executive director (NED) roles, in particular businesses where I could make an investment. I'd always been fascinated by the car industry. And I wanted to be involved in environmental businesses—something that could either contribute to reducing global warming or improve the quality of life.

BS I worked for over a year supporting myself with no income to get the business off the ground. Then I came across First Flight Placements, which has been instrumental in the development of Liberty Electric Cars.
Its speciality is in helping businesses find investing NEDs. That's how I met Ian.

IH Green investments have the same level of risk, reward and return as any other investment. You can get a positive return; they can be very attractive. This is the right way for me to direct my money.

BS Those companies that are doing the most to address global warming will be the most successful commercial businesses. What the nation needs is a sustainable transport infrastructure. To have that model you can't have internal combustion engines in cars. They all burn fossil fuels, which are finite fuels. There's a necessary transition that needs to be made towards electric cars.

IH I'm responsible for the prototype build. In any start-up there's always a surplus of work, a lack of expertise in certain areas and a requirement to do a lot more than your funds allow you to. If you're enthusiastic about the project, which I am, you end up putting in many more hours than you anticipated.

BS We're now launching our second round of funding (which is an angel round not an institutional round) and are looking to raise £1m to proceed with building the world's first zero-emission, high-performance electric Range Rover. We're ready—we've lined up the partner company in the UK, which has the expertise in building prototype cars. We're all about showcasing the UK's capability in advanced engineering.

IH Barry is an incredibly enthusiastic character to be around and creates a feeling of goodwill everywhere he goes. If I want to invest in a business I want to be sure that the team I'm investing in is the best there is. It's an extremely open relationship. I'm in France and he's in the UK, but we speak (thank God for Skype) daily. We have a robust relationship in that I can disagree with him over a direction he's chosen to take.

BS We're a small, new business and Ian brings an international management perspective, which is something that a small business like ours requires. What we need is a combination of visionary stuff, which is what I bring to the table, and sharp professional thinking, which is what Ian brings. He has the professional business discipline and the clear thinking.

IH It has become harder to raise finance, harder to illicit concrete responses from people and harder to believe those responses when you get them. But we're sticking to the original timeframe. I'm sure they're saying they can't for the right reasons, because this [financial] crisis is impacting on everyone. The positive thing is that it has made people reflect about the type of transport they're using and the economies they could achieve by switching to electric vehicles.

BS People say to us: "How can you take on the car manufacturing industry. You're a newly established business, how are you going to challenge Land Rover, which makes 225,000 vehicles a year?" But that's not the point. We're not about being a car manufacturer. We're about innovation. Our forecast is that over the next five years we will be a £500m turnover business, and that's selling just a few thousand vehicles. We're excited—the demand is there.