Phileas Fogg employed trains, elephants and balloons in his quest to make it “Around the World in 80 Days,” but the most current attempt utilizes only one type of vehicle: the electric car.
In February of this year, two engineers set out to prove that long distance travel was possible in a commercially available electric vehicle. Full of ambition, Xavier Degon and Antonin Guy planned to circumnavigate the globe in a Citroen C-Zero EV, which is the French version of the Mitsubishi i. Their Electric Odyssey would take them through 17 different countries and across 15,534 miles of terrain. They estimated it would take about 8 months and hundreds of stops to charge the car, which can only travel about 60 miles on a full charge.
Inspired by Degon and Guy’s adventure (and also by a desire to show them up) a second world-traveler set out to catch them in his own EV three months after the duo departed from France. Rafael de Mestre chose the Tesla Roadster as his steed, however, and planned to complete his trip around the world in (you guessed it) a mere 80 days. The Tesla Roadster can go upwards of 200 miles per charge, so de Mestre planned on making far fewer pit stops.
According to Chris Demorro over at Gas2.org, de Mestre has already crossed most of Europe and all of North America, and is well on his way to tackling China. Last we checked, Degon and Guy were in Japan with the majority of their trip still ahead of them. It’s highly likely that although they set out first, the Frenchmen will be the last to finish this unofficial, two-car race.
Regardless of which team wins, it’s fun to watch their progress. Once finished, they will have dealt a fatal blow to our lingering range anxiety. If they can make it around the world, surely the rest of us can make it to work and back, right?
Main photo credit: Electric Odyssey
Secondary photo credit: 1e-race.com