Nissan Powers EV Expedition Across Africa
Famous Traveler Arkady Fiedler plans to make the trip from Cape Town to Europe in a previous-gen Nissan Leaf electric vehicle.
It sounds like a sketch out of The Grand Tour, but it’s real life. Nissan has thrown down the gauntlet for Electric Vehicles with its Electric Explorer African Challenge. It’s the first-ever EV expedition across Africa. Behind the wheel of the previous-generation Nissan Leaf is famous Polish traveler Arkady Pawel Fiedler along with photographer Albert Wojtowicz.
The expedition started all the way at the southern tip of Africa in Cape Town last week. Fiedler will travel up the West Coast of Africa, hoping to eventually make his way to Gibraltar. After making it over to Spain, Fiedler plans to continue his trek all the way across western Europe to Poland. The goal is to show off the resilience of EVs as well as build awareness for electric mobility.
"Care of the environment, home, family starts with us – with our subjective decisions. The journey is also to prove that often something apparently impossible to do can be achieved given appropriate attitude and determination," Fiedler said. "Owing to the huge challenge of looking for appropriate electric sockets to fill the battery with electricity, which is increasingly less of a problem in Europe year on year, we'll have to rely on help from people we meet along the way. Without support from Africans, the expedition may fail."
The journey won’t be an easy one, traversing across dramatically different climates across Africa. Fiedler is confident the little Leaf will be fine for the journey. “We're optimistic. As part of the tests, I've already traveled over 4,000 kilometers in Poland in a Nissan Leaf, and I'm positively surprised by the driving range offered."
You can follow along with the ride by checking out Fiedler’s Instagram.
