He had spent around 95,000km at the wheel of his electric car, which is known as “Blue Bandit”.
The finish-line was not far from the iconic opera building. The story appeared in Dutch newspapers the same day. Mr Wakker, from Houten in the Utrecht province, left home on the 15th of March 2016. His goal was to reach Australia, but he had no food with him, or any accommodation booked.
He wanted to show what an electric car can do and show that a self-sustaining lifestyle is possible on an individual scale. He travelled through Europe and Asia, accepting offers from people happy to put him up, feed him or let him charge his car. You can see his route on his “Plug me in” site. He travelled through Europe, Scandinavia, Turkey, Oman, Iran and other countries to finally reach Australia. He had to put his car on a boat for certain sections, such as to get onto the Australian continent.
When speaking about his car, he said “I swear we fall out sometimes”, he told the AD newspaper. “The first few months were amazing, we were happy and had some great moments. After a while, she started to complain, she didn’t want to work anymore. I had to invest time, money and energy to get her to talk to me again. We finally developed a stable relationship after all these problems”.
He travelled through 33 countries in total. A resolute optimist with regards to the future of electric cars, he told public Dutch television channel NOS: “prices will drop over the next few years. Authorities are trying to find ways to make these electric cars affordable. Until that happens, people are at least aware of the possibilities”.
Vix Caux
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