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posted by n1 on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the dick-dastardly-and-muttley dept.

With the public charging infrastructure for electric cars expanding apace and Tesla Superchargers popping up like mushrooms, the concept of driving a few hundred miles in an EV is no longer as absurd a suggestion as it was just a couple of years ago. But ten thousand miles across Europe and central Asia? Come on now.

That's exactly what Chris Ramsey of Plug In Adventures plans to do, entering an all-electric Nissan Leaf in the 2017 Mongol Rally charity run. It's the first time an electric vehicle has entered the event.

The Mongol Rally for those new to the name is an adventure-based (i.e. you win just by finishing) drive from Goodwood Circuit near Chichester to Ulan-Ude in Siberia. That's nearly 7,000 miles as the crow flies, or as Google Maps plots a direct course. The rally organisers reckon that most cars will follow a 10,000-mile scenic route that takes in large parts of Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

[...] Of course as much as the inherent simplicity and drivability of an EV lends itself to an event like this, keeping the battery charged surely poses a problem, right? Wrong according to Ramsey. He expects to cover around 90 miles a day, charging overnight from either domestic or dedicated outlets he has already plotted along his route. Thirty minute top-ups from 22kW fast chargers located along the less remote parts of the route will let him head off-piste and smell the daisies.

The ability to better ford rivers and streams and being less prone to mechanical breakdown were cited as advantages for the electric vehicle (EV).


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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:10AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:10AM (#514008)

    I see what you did there.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:38AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @06:38AM (#514023)

      How's your wife Nancy doing?

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by kaszz on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:23AM (2 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday May 23 2017, @07:23AM (#514043) Journal

    With the public charging infrastructure for electric cars expanding apace and Tesla Superchargers popping up like mushrooms, the concept of driving a few hundred kilometers in an EV is no longer as absurd a suggestion as it was just a couple of years ago. But sixteen thousand kilometers across Europe and central Asia [arstechnica.com]? Come on now.

    That's exactly what Chris Ramsey of Plug In Adventures [facebook.com] plans to do, entering an all-electric Nissan Leaf [wikipedia.org] in the 2017 Mongol Rally charity run. It's the first time an electric vehicle has entered the event.

    The Mongol Rally for those new to the name is an adventure-based (i.e. you win just by finishing) drive [theadventurists.com] from Goodwood Circuit near Chichester to Ulan-Ude in Siberia. That's nearly 11 200 km as the crow flies, or as Google Maps plots a direct course. The rally organizers reckon that most cars will follow a 16 000 km scenic route that takes in large parts of Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

    [...] Of course as much as the inherent simplicity and drivability of an EV lends itself to an event like this, keeping the battery charged surely poses a problem, right? Wrong according to Ramsey. He expects to cover around 144 km a day, charging overnight from either domestic or dedicated outlets he has already plotted along his route. Thirty minute top-ups from 22 kW fast chargers located along the less remote parts of the route will let him head off-piste and smell the daisies.

    Is Tesla participating ?
    Almost seems like a must participate event.

    • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 23 2017, @08:01AM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday May 23 2017, @08:01AM (#514072) Journal

      "...Thirty minute top-ups from 29.5 horsepower fast chargers..."

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:26PM (#514206)

      More numbers -- 10000 miles / 90 miles/day = 111 days

      Finishing time Mongol rally finds this site for the 2013 event, http://www.theadventurists.com/the-jibber/20/11/2013/the-quickest-and-slowest-team-to-finish-the-mongol-rally [theadventurists.com]

      ... After just 10 days on the road (including 3 nights spent at the western border) Nafanchez Team earned the title of the fastest team to ever complete the Mongol Rally.

      ‘It’s not a race!’ I hear you scream. And you’d be right, and it certainly is not in our nature to celebrate the first arrivals (typically we celebrate the last to cross the finish line), but there is a little more to Nafanchez Team’s story. For this team also holds the more triumphant honor of being the slowest team to yet complete the Mongol Rally after a total of 730 days since they launched from the Euro launch in the Czech Republic in 2011!

      So the Nissan Leaf might finish somewhere in the middle--but has little chance of improving its position, unless extraordinary measures are taken like towing a diesel or gas generator that has a large gas/petrol tank.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Nesh on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:07PM (2 children)

    by Nesh (269) on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:07PM (#514195)

    the concept of driving a few hundred miles in an EV is no longer as absurd a suggestion as it was just a couple of years ago.

    No way, it's been done before and on longer routes. See the world route of the 2010 zero emissions race for instance: zero emissions race world route [zero-race.com]. Total distance of about 30,000 km. That race was without nissan leafs, that car wasn't available until later in the year.

    I found the zerotracer that participated fascinating. It was an eletric version of the Monotracer [peravescz.com].

    • (Score: 1) by jlv on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:50PM (1 child)

      by jlv (3756) on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:50PM (#514370)

      Yes, but this is being done with a (slightly modified) production car.

      • (Score: 2) by Nesh on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:19PM

        by Nesh (269) on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:19PM (#514389)

        I see on the peraves website that an electric version of the monoracer as they're now called might still be available.
        No idea on how many there have been sold (if any).

        ICE Monoracers were production two-wheelers although in low quantities. Discontinued since begin 2017.

        The zero tracer had excellent range and speed in absolute terms. Even more impressive when considering the range of other electric vehicles of the time.

        Wayback machine has an archive of their journey blog [archive.org].

  • (Score: 1) by jlv on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:00PM (1 child)

    by jlv (3756) on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:00PM (#514378)

    You'd think he might try a car with a larger battery than the LEAF (like a Bolt or a Tesla), but it wouldn't really help him all that much.

    I suspect the real limitation on this route is lack of charging infrastructure. Thus, he'll probably be limited to household current and using a Level-1 trickle charger most of the time. In that case, he's better off not using a Tesla, since it is no as efficient as a LEAF (2.5mi/kWh vs. 4.0mi/kWh on average on streets). The bigger battery would be just additional weight to carry that he usually wouldn't be able to charge.

    Although there's no way he could do 90mi/day with just Level 1 charging.

    FWIW: I own both a LEAF (30K miles in 3 years) and a Tesla Model S (5K miles in 3 months)

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 23 2017, @08:06PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday May 23 2017, @08:06PM (#514500) Journal

      FWIW: I own both a LEAF (30K miles in 3 years) and a Tesla Model S (5K miles in 3 months)

      How do they compare? I've never heard from anyone who had extensive experience with more than one model of EV.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
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