Wiebe Wakker
Wiebe Wakker is a Dutch motorcar driver and world traveler who also holds the current world record for completing the longest ever electric car trip in the world covering a distance of about 95,000 kilometres (59,000 mi).[1] On 15 March 2016, he started his journey through his own electric car from his home country Netherlands to reach his final destination in Australia.[2] On 7 April 2019, he managed to complete his journey taking 1,119 days by crossing 33 countries without even visiting a gas station.[3][4]
Record breaking journey
Wiebe Wakker, with the intention of promoting the awareness of electric cars in support of sustainability, commenced an electric car trip from Amsterdam, the capital city of Netherlands during March 2016 without having adequate amount of money and he was funded through the public donations across the world in order to generate electricity for his car, to consume sufficient food and a place to sleep.[5][6] During his journey, he drove across a variety of countries including Turkey, India, Iran, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia.[7]
He ended his journey after reaching Sydney on 7 April 2019 after three years and thus creating a world record for completing the longest electric car ride.[8][9] It was revealed that he used 17 megawatt-hours of electricity on the entire journey. His Plug Me In project inspired several people after revealing about his real cause for attempting such a journey and pledged them for food, shelter and electricity.[10]
References
- Majendie, Matt. "Electric traveler travels 90,000km in three years relying on strangers to pay his way". CNN. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- "Dutchman finishes world's longest electric car journey in Sydney". WhichCar. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- "Meet the man who drove from the Netherlands to Australia without visiting a gas station". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- Elg, Hayley (2019-03-14). "How one man has travelled the world in an electric car". The Courier. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- Schmidt, Bridie (2019-04-05). "Dutch EV explorer celebrates epic three year road trip in electric car". The Driven. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- McCormack, Ange (2019-04-10). "Proving the viability of electric cars, Dutchman drives from Amsterdam to Sydney without petrol". triple j. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- "Epic electric road trip: After 3 years and 33 countries, it's a wrap". Green Car Reports. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- "'I made it!': Dutchman's 95,000km electric car trip ends in Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2019-04-07. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- Smith, Luke John (2019-04-08). "Forget range anxiety, man completes 59,000 mile road trip in an electric car". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
- "Plug Me In | Electric Road Trip from the Netherlands to Australia". Retrieved 2019-04-16.