German Drives e-Motorhome 7500 Km To The Top Of Europe And Back – But Had To Charge 95 Times!

7500-km trip by e-vehicle

The online German economento.de here reports how last August German e-mobility enthusiast Frank Eusterholz drove a 136-hp modified e-camper from Hanover to the northernmost point in Europe. 

Eusterholz, a tech geek, believes he is probably the first person to have made the journey to the North Cape with an electrically powered motor home. But it wasn’t all smooth going, he described. You can’t be in a hurry.

7 days for 3333 km to the top

It took him seven days to travel the 3333 km distance to the top of Europe.

The e-vehicle had been retrofitted from a combustion engine to electric drive with a rated range of 173 kilometers with one charge, but the range was “no problem at all” on the complete 7500 kilometer round-trip route, said Eusterholz.

Average charging time: 90 mins

Overall the vacationing Eusterholz “did not find the total of 95 charging stops along the entire route to be strenuous,” reports economento.de. “You slow down, drive more consciously and at the end of the day you arrive at your destination even more rested.”

The time required to bring the lithium-ion battery up to 80 percent of its capacity is 45 minutes with rapid chargers.

“A charging stop was made approximately every 90 kilometers,” reports Motorzeitung.de. “In the end Eusterholz had charged the electric transporter 95 times, with an average charging time of one and a half hours.” The 7500-km trip took 18 days in total.

2 hours charging for driving 1 hour

MSM here reported:

‘For safety reasons, I have always included 40 kilometers of emergency reserve.’

Consequently, the charge-ups were between 30 and 90 kilometers: ‘Exactly 95 times during the tour I stood at a charging station, usually five to seven times a day, and the batteries became very hot.’ Accordingly, the charging time became longer and longer: ‘After the third charging process, the waiting time doubled, then you charge up for two hours to drive one. And even that usually only at a speed of 50 or 60 km/h.”

Slow charging up north

Further north, the charging stations became sparse and charging became a challenge. North of Alta fast-chargers are non-existent. “On the last few hundred kilometers there are only a few AC charging points and you can only charge very slowly,” reports economento.de. “The charging process takes about five times as long as on a fast charger with DC technology.”

Uphill

Eusterholz recalls how the Trollstigen in Norway was the most fun part of the trip and involved climbing 12 per cent grade with a total of 11 hairpin curves. After having reached the hilltop with a remaining range of 50 kilometers, he then made the descent and ended up again with 90 kilometers charge thanks to energy recovery during braking and deceleration.

Eusterholz insists he would make the trip again without hesitation and that e-mobility is ideally suited for motorhomes because people have the time to travel at a leisurely pace.

Although Eusterholz’s adventure may have been fascinating, it shows that cargo transport using e-cargo trucks are a long way off.




15 responses to “German Drives e-Motorhome 7500 Km To The Top Of Europe And Back – But Had To Charge 95 Times!”

  1. B Lyapunov

    95 times 1.5 hours equals 142.5 hours.
    divide 142.5 hours by 24 gives 5.9375 days, or very close to 6 days.
    On an 18 days trip, recharging alone took 1/3 of the total time, 24/24.
    Wow.

  2. stephen Richards

    I did a similar journey, SW France to East england in 36 hours. I slept at the half way point.

  3. stephen Richards

    and back !

  4. stephen Richards

    It was in my diesel Mercedes

  5. Shoki Kaneda

    Great – a delusional cultist with nowhere to go and lots of time to get there. He’s a real model of productivity.

  6. Philip

    Frank is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but definitely a tool

  7. John F Hultquist

    My Subaru would have required ~12 fuel stops. At home, where
    I know the station locations, I am usually off and back on
    the road in 7 minutes.

    _ _ _ _ _
    I wonder if someone road along to keep him awake.

  8. Bob in Castlemaine

    So does that mean that the maximum range available between charging stops for Frank’s vehicle is 130 km (90 + 40). If so, I assume there will be no trip to the Sahara Desert for Fred. Unless of course his vehicle can tow a decent size diesel generator and fuel supply.

  9. pochas94

    Illustrates a major drawback for battery cars. Nicola’s business plan is to use hydrogen for long haul trucking. Why? Because instead of hauling those heavy batteries the trucker could be hauling payload instead. But replacing diesel tractors will not happen tomorrow.

  10. David Appell

    Hi Pierre. Double check my calculation here, but unless the sum of UAH_LT’s and RSS_LT’s anomaly next month is less than -19.06 C, you will lose “The Bet.”

    Where do you think you and your fellow skeptics went wrong? Will it change your minds about the future?

  11. Petit_Barde

    Assuming that 80% of the energy used to charge the battery is generated from fossil fuel,
    that the battery charge is 70% effective,
    that the added weight is about 800kg,
    that the motor is 90% efficient …

    Apart having waisted time and energy, what was the goal ?
    To globally emit more CO2 than with a modern diesel car ?

  12. Senex

    Now try the same trip in the middle of winter when you are also using the batteries to heat the cab, and see how far you get on a charge!

  13. tom0mason

    “The time required to bring the lithium-ion battery up to 80 percent of its capacity is 45 minutes with rapid chargers.”
    Rapid charging is known to shorten the battery life, so what will be the eventual cost of this jolly jape?

  14. Luigi

    I would not define such a holiday “fascinating”. Imagine a normal family going on holiday and needing relax but travelling at 50 to 60 km/h and recharging every hour. Come on: it’s a joke.

  15. Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #434 | Watts Up With That?

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