DC Down Under: We Made It Across Australia, but the Kia EV6 Did Not
After crossing a continent, our quest to drive an electric car across the Australian Outback ended less than 200 miles from the finish line.
Back on Monday, we announced the start of our ambitious DC Down Under project, an attempt to drive an electric car—in this case a 2022 Kia EV6—across the Australian Outback. The journey was to take us on a 1,700-mile trek from Adelaide to Perth. Our goal was to show that for all the concerns about range anxiety and charging access that have stymied the mass adoption of EVs, here in 2022, it’s now possible to take one on an epic journey through an incredibly remote area like this and come out the other side unscathed.
Well, we didn’t make it. Technically we did, as staffers Lewin Day and James Gilboy finally rolled into Perth around 7:00 p.m. local time on Friday, Aug. 12. But unfortunately, the EV6 did not—and not because of broken chargers, as was predicted by many.
We’ll have the full story of what happened next week, with daily updates on the site chronicling the ups and downs and untimely end for Kia’s flashy electric car less than 200 miles from the finish line. Suffice it to say Lewin and James did not hit a kangaroo or one of Australia’s famous road trains, but still, the best laid plans o’ mice and men and all that.
If you haven’t been following along this week, you can still check out our Instagram where Lewin and James have been filming real-time updates every day via Instagram Stories, which are all being collected in one mega highlight reel accessible through our profile. Again, look for the whole story every day on The Drive next week!
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