On March 16, 2016, Wiebe Wakker set out on an epic journey from the Netherlands to Australia in an electric car. After 1,051 days on the road, he has just arrived in Adelaide after traveling through 33 countries and clocking up some 89,000 kilometers. But his trip is not yet over.
"Electric vehicles are a significant part of the solution to the global environmental problem we all share, sadly the uptake of electric cars is going slow mainly because there are a lot of prejudices, people believe they are not reliable or not fit to cover long distances," said Wakker on arriving in Adelaide. "By driving from Holland to literally the other side of the world I hope to change peoples mind."
He hasn't taken any money with him but is banking on the support of his project followers to get him from A to B, with quite a few diversions along the way as the location of an offer of help determines the final route taken.
Folks visiting the Plug Me In project website can offer shelter, food or a place to plug in and charge the Blue Bandit EV. The car's 150 kW motor gives it a top speed of 180 km/h (110 mph), while the 37 kWh Li-ion battery pack offers a 200 km (124 mi) per charge range.
It's quite a gamble, but it seems to have paid off as 1,700 people from 45 countries have offered some form of assistance.
After driving through Europe, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia, Wakker arrived in Australia in the middle of 2018, but only made it to Adelaide yesterday thanks to the nature of his crowd-supported journey. The final destination for this all electric adventure is Sydney.
A video diary of the mammoth trip can be viewed via Wakker's YouTube channel.
Source: Plug Me In
Electric cars here contribute *vastly* more pollution than internal-combustion ones as a result.
He's sending the right message, but the clueless people here who follow his lead are going to be increasing their damage to our planet without even understanding why.
And before you "start" - no - we don't charge our cars from solar - the sun is only out when we're at work and they're parked in some city garage.
How much of Australia has solar panels providing energy to households and vehicles? It's easy to manage time-of-use solar energy, easier than managing power plant energy disposal that doesn't match time-of-use.
Coal production uses energy, petroleum production uses energy. Transporting coal uses energy, transporting petrol uses energy. The big picture is not being considered in your comment. It can't be easily summarized in a few sentences.