So I was musing on Twitter on Sunday that it may be fun to make a trip by EV for a charity or a good cause. It was, I thought, slightly tounge-in cheeck, since my only real EV at the moment is the 25 year old City Stromer. Okay, it’s a great car and doesn’t show it’s age at all. But the batteries are getting on (7 years old at the most) and the poor thing can just about handle a 25 mile range.
Then local Social Media Guru, Nigel Legg (@Nigellegg on twitter) suggested that the obvious, long range EV trip may be to Copenhagen for the 2009 UN Climate Change confrence. Bristol to Copenhagen. In the winter. In an EV.
That sounds just about mad enough to try.
I’d want to do it as a publicity stunt and a fund-rasier. Perhaps someone here could suggest a good charity. Helping victims of climate change sounds like a good one to me.
Yes, Bristol to Copenhagen. And Back. That’s a trip and a half. Plus it would get me snow. and I LOVE snow. seriously, I’ve contemplated moving to Canada several times just for the snow. This little trip would be just before Christmas. Ideal snow time.
So we’re at this early point. This early point where we all sit back and try to work out the logistics of such a trip. Figure out how and where and when and who is doing what. And which vehicle we’d like to take.
I’d dearly love to take Tigger, the 25 year old cityStromer. That would make a really positive statement about the logevity of electric vehicle tech. It would also be lovely to take a car I know well. But before I left the fine shores of the UK I’d need some way of increasing the battery capacity. A new pack. That’s £2,000. I’d also need to sort out some heating for the cold weather as that’s currently non functioning. I’m happy to travel in the UK with no heater, but Northern Europe? Hmmm. No.
So, unless someone is willing to sponsor me for a new pack (and if everyone who reads this gave a few pounds then perhaps we could actually do that) it’s gong to have to be someone else’s EV. A Tesla would be a great idea. I wonder if anyone at Tesla would be interested. The trip is just shy of 900 miles by my reckoning, and with careful driving a Tesla can acchieve that magic 250 miles on a charge. In winter I’d guess that may be slightly reduced, but it’s well worth a try. I wonder, does anyone at Tesla read this blog??? Or perhaps I could go with a iMiev? I fell in love with that car when I drove it a while back. Or perhaps a Th!nk? Or perhaps I have a rich benefactor I don’t know about willing to help sponsor my EV to get her ready.
I’d also need sponsorship and help along the way. Ideally, I only want to charge up using renewable energy. So that means folks with wind turbines, people with electriciticy produced by renewable means, off grid or grid-based. And it means two charges per day for my car (which I hope will do 50 miles at least per charge – an iMiev or Tesla would be better and require less charges… hint Hint!)
There’s a ton of logistics to getting this ready and happening in a few months. It’s less than ten weeks away. But that crazy idea is now firmly planted in my head and I can’t quite let it go. Who is up for a fun time and the craziest EV journey ever?
The only downside is timing. I have existing commitments in the UK on the 7th December. I’ll try my best to reschedule them, but It’s unlikely that I’ll be able to leave until the 8th December. The confrence will have already started by then, so our hope would be to arrive mid-confrence (It runs from 7th – 18th December).
I think Chelsea is already quite keen on the idea. We’ve exchanged a few emails and tweets in the past 24 hours and I’ve mentioned it.
I want to get ready already I LOVE to travel. and I LOVE to drive I’ve wanted to do a trip like this for ages, but I would only contemplate it in an eco way. An EV trip is ideal….Who is on board then? Anyone? Is it crazy?