7500-km trip by e-vehicle
The online German economento.de here reports how last August German e-mobility enthusiast Frank Eusterholz drove a 136-hp modified e-camper from Hanover to the northernmost point in Europe.
Eusterholz, a tech geek, believes he is probably the first person to have made the journey to the North Cape with an electrically powered motor home. But it wasn’t all smooth going, he described. You can’t be in a hurry.
7 days for 3333 km to the top
It took him seven days to travel the 3333 km distance to the top of Europe.
The e-vehicle had been retrofitted from a combustion engine to electric drive with a rated range of 173 kilometers with one charge, but the range was “no problem at all” on the complete 7500 kilometer round-trip route, said Eusterholz.
Average charging time: 90 mins
Overall the vacationing Eusterholz “did not find the total of 95 charging stops along the entire route to be strenuous,” reports economento.de. “You slow down, drive more consciously and at the end of the day you arrive at your destination even more rested.”
The time required to bring the lithium-ion battery up to 80 percent of its capacity is 45 minutes with rapid chargers.
“A charging stop was made approximately every 90 kilometers,” reports Motorzeitung.de. “In the end Eusterholz had charged the electric transporter 95 times, with an average charging time of one and a half hours.” The 7500-km trip took 18 days in total.
2 hours charging for driving 1 hour
MSM here reported:
‘For safety reasons, I have always included 40 kilometers of emergency reserve.’
Consequently, the charge-ups were between 30 and 90 kilometers: ‘Exactly 95 times during the tour I stood at a charging station, usually five to seven times a day, and the batteries became very hot.’ Accordingly, the charging time became longer and longer: ‘After the third charging process, the waiting time doubled, then you charge up for two hours to drive one. And even that usually only at a speed of 50 or 60 km/h.”
Slow charging up north
Further north, the charging stations became sparse and charging became a challenge. North of Alta fast-chargers are non-existent. “On the last few hundred kilometers there are only a few AC charging points and you can only charge very slowly,” reports economento.de. “The charging process takes about five times as long as on a fast charger with DC technology.”
Uphill
Eusterholz recalls how the Trollstigen in Norway was the most fun part of the trip and involved climbing 12 per cent grade with a total of 11 hairpin curves. After having reached the hilltop with a remaining range of 50 kilometers, he then made the descent and ended up again with 90 kilometers charge thanks to energy recovery during braking and deceleration.
Eusterholz insists he would make the trip again without hesitation and that e-mobility is ideally suited for motorhomes because people have the time to travel at a leisurely pace.
Although Eusterholz’s adventure may have been fascinating, it shows that cargo transport using e-cargo trucks are a long way off.
via NoTricksZone
December 2, 2020 at 08:56AM
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