As all EV professionals know, it is possible to make 1,000 km in an electric car without having to make stops that last for hours. You only need an EV that is CHAdeMO-compatible and a good network of fast chargers along the way. The trip will take slightly longer than in a conventional car, but it does not mean it will be less pleasant. And even if the European roads are yet not lined with CHAdeMO chargers every 50 km (with a notable exception of Estonia), there are parts of the continent that are almost-perfectly accessible for EV drivers in fast-chargeable cars.
In order to demonstrate the capabilities of CHAdeMO fast charging to enable long distance EV driving in a country that is CHAdeMO Europe’s ‘home land’, a CHAdeMO rally team, Natalia Kozdra and Jérôme Fresnay, will take on the challenge of ‘Tour Véhicules Electriques Poitou-Charentes’ taking place 17-19 September 2013 in the Southern part of France, going from Poitiers to Angoulême over three days of the rally.
To make matters more difficult, they will leave the day before the ‘Tour de VE’, on 16th September, and travel to the rally starting point in Poitiers from Rennes, where the CHAdeMO Citroen C-Zero is registered. They cover the entire distance 100% electrically, adding 670 km round trip on top of the rally’s 330 km, making 1000 km in total.
To cover the additional 335 km in one day, the team is planning to CHAdeMO fast-charge at 4 FC stations: at U-Express in Grand-Fougeray, Nissan Nantes, by charger stations producer ‘Grolleau’ in Montilliers and at the end at Nissan Poitiers.
You can follow the adventures of the CHAdeMO rally team on Twitter at CHAdeMO_eu and also via a smart phone app LiveTrekker. The link to their route will be posted on Twitter on Monday Morning.
