The Peterborough-based manufacturer of electric drivetrains, battery management systems and support programmes for international customers was founded in 2006, and is best known for its electric Range Rover conversions. These use four electric motors to offer all-wheel drive and a 200-mile range on a single charge.

With over 2.5m miles of test expertise and clients including UPS, FedEx, Navistar, Veolia and Tesco, Liberty will offer Green Automotive a foundation for expansion into the European electric vehicle market.

The partnership will also give the Newport Beach-based company access to Liberty’s technology for its North American activities. Green Automotive had planned to launch its own electric SUV in the United States and Canada, and had joined forces with Niyato Industries to develop drivetrain components for converting conventional cars, but both projects are now looking unlikely.

Fred Luke, President of Green Automotive Company, said: ‘We have elected to not make the Company's primary business that of importing, performing the homologation, and then competing against a host of others now entering the market of retailing electric passenger vehicles.

‘Putting the last two years of import and homologation knowledge in the proper prospective, it is clear to us that our fastest and least expensive path to revenues from the Electric Vehicle (EV) will be to focus on the conversion of conventional internal combustion engine-driven vehicles of all types, particularly Mass-Transit and passenger vehicles which have already passed the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) tests, to make them into zero emission vehicles.’