Dutchman Wiebe Wakker is set to complete the world’s longest journey in an electric car on Sunday 7 April in Sydney, after being on the road for 1,119 days.
By then, he will have crossed 33 countries and driven 95,000km on electricity, powered by strangers.
Wakker began the journey with the goal to prove the practicality of electric vehicles. He left Amsterdam on the 15 March 2016 in his electric car, dubbed ‘Blue Bandit,’ with no money.
His campaign, Plug Me In, had thousands of people from 45 countries signing up and supporting him by offering a meal, a place to sleep and electricity to charge his car.
Wakker wants to see the transition to a zero carbon future and a way to combat climate change. He hopes that driving to the other side of the world will show people that electric cars are a viable way of transport.
The previous record driven in a car in one journey was 22,000km. Wakker is also the first person to do so in a battery-powered car, and first to cross Turkey, Iran, India, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia in an electric vehicle.
Wakker will cross the finish line at the Bennelong Lawn, Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney at 3pm in a parade of 50 electric vehicles. The parade will start at 2pm and drive over the Harbour Bridge. Wakker asks every electric car owner to join and make this the biggest EV Parade in Australia.
