In an attempt to prove to the world that electric cars are perfectly feasible transportation, Dutchman Wiebe Wakker set out on a three-year, 59,000-mile journey from Amsterdam to Sydney, Australia back in 2016. This past week, the “world’s largest electric car trip” came to a close after Wakker drove across 33 countries in his modified Volkswagen e-Golf. The trip required multiple sea crossing and wasn’t quite as eco-friendly as it could have been as a result.
However, it still underscored the environmental and economic advantages of his ride. The unmodified Golf would have required about 1,792 US gallons of fuel to complete the trip, which would have cost $4,552 if you relied on average US gas prices in 2018. Wakker spent a mere $300 on electricity over three years, and most of that was in the Australian Outback. The craziest thing is that Wakker’s car couldn’t go further than 124 miles on a charge—that was the practical reality in 2016. Now in 2019, drivers can choose from electric vehicles with a much longer range reaching upwards of 300 miles.
