Prof. Jeff Allan is a chartered engineer who runs Jeff Vehicles Ltd., developing electric and hydrogen solutions for road and rail vehicles. He has driven electric cars since 2010. As part of his work, he competes in amateur motorsport – speed trials, sprints and hillclimbs in electric cars. He has jointly held the Guinness World Record for shortest charging time of an electric car from John o’Groats to Lands End and the Guinness World Record for shortest charging time of an electric car across Europe (Nordkapp, Norway to Tarifa, Spain).
He was born in New York and lives in Birmingham. He is a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a fellow of the Institution of Railway Signalling Engineers. His Ph.D., completed in 1981 was concerned with regenerative braking and he has nearly 50 years of experience working on electric railways, metro and main line on rolling stock, power supply and signalling. He is a consultant on innovation in railways and is an honorary professor at the University of Birmingham. He has recently carried out electronic and electrical engineering design on the UK’s first and second hydrogen trains. He has had a lifelong interest in cars. He built one when he was 17 years old.