Around the world in 80 days; not the movie but Spanish-born entrepreneur Rafael de Mestre’s mission to travel around the world in 80 days while driving a Tesla Roadster. His trip started off in Barcelona a few months back just after finishing a pan-European tour and has passed through Europe, the United States, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Romania, and then back through Europe to complete the journey.
Accompanying him in this round the world odyssey were French team drivers manning a Citroën C-Zero. The trip has not been an easy one as Mestre suffered a major crash in the Tesla just 600 miles away from his destination.
He had to fly the car from Frankfurt to New York where he drove west on the I-80, passing through Omaha in Nebraska, Cheyenne in Wyoming, Salt Lake City in Utah, then down the Californian coast to Los Angeles. He said charging stations were easy to find in the US in form of an RV park where he paid $40 to charge.
He then boarded a commercial jet to Seoul, Korea where his greatest challenge was the villages and towns along his route that had no electricity. He improvise with a trunk full of charge adapters designed to fit different plug styles and if one of his pre-assembled adapters didn’t work, he’d make one.
Rafael is back in Barcelona having made several records as the first man to drive around the world in an electric car, winner of the first electric car race around the world and fastest electric circumnavigation ever.
That’s amazing, but I bet he’s not going to volunteer to drive for a while.
haha @angela he will volunteer,Tesla may give him a big contract on a project. :)
I’m having some real serious doubts as to the validity of Mr DeMestre’s claims here ;
1) No TESLA roadster has even been able to complete a road test ( to date ) and we’re supposed to believe he drove one around the world ? I’m guessing if anything he drove several ( across different areas ) not one
2) Charging Stations easy to find in the US ? Not hardly ! In R/V parks ? Not likely as there’s not need for them . That R/V comment alone got my suspicions up ( asked a few R/Ving friends about it and they just laughed )
No … without further third party verification all bets are Mr DeMestre’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes while gaining himself his 15 minutes of fame . e.g. Methinks this one’s an utter pant load …. plain and simple … if you catch my meaning ;-)
@GS,
1. We finished our road test fine in the TESLA and everything was still in one piece. We also have numerous cars driving around town here with no problems whatsoever.
2. They do these kind of trips around the world while being chased by a truck sharing electric power to the EV. ;-)
I was actually following this journey then must have forgotten all about it, LOL. Glad to see they finally finished the trip around the world. Well done Raphael!!
haha with trucks following them? thats funny!