Checking out Perth’s RAC Intellibus
Electric explorer Wiebe Wakker expects to complete his journey around Australia within about six months after travelling more than 70,000km around much of the world.
Wakker is expected to leave Perth shortly in his “Blue Bandit” 2009 Volkswagen Golf, converted from petrol to electric with a 37kWh battery, providing 200km range.
He will drive across the Nullarbor Plain to Port Augusta, Alice Springs, Townsville, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
He arrived in Perth in August, more than two years after leaving his home in Amsterdam in The Netherlands.
Wiebe Wakker
He’s crossed about 33 countries, including Europe, the Middle East, India and Indonesia, landing in Darwin after 827 days and travelling for nearly 50 days to reach Perth, beating the previous electric vehicle (EV) distance record of 22,000km along the way.
Wakker’s “Plug Me In” project invites people to contribute to his trip in various ways, whether supplying a meal, a sleeping place, a charging facility for his EV or donations through crowdfunding.
That way he has been able to travel without spending too much of his own money and not visiting any service stations.
His journey is often determined by such offers through his website www.
plugmeinproject.
com, and he regularly posts updates of his travels on social media.
Wakker says Aussies have been very generous, and he’s managed to fit in visits to events, businesses and people who are helping with sustainability, including a ride in Perth’s driverless RAC Intellibus on September 11.
A few days earlier he held a “meet-up” in Kings Park, Perth, so people could chat to him and take photos before his departure.
Initially, Wakker set out to prove EVs could do as much or better than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles over long distances.
He says his aim is to help people move towards a zero-carbon future by highlighting environmental challenges and solutions.
Wakker now has more than 2000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, 2568 Twitter followers, 4372 Instagram followers and 36,703 Facebook followers – to name a few.
“For two years I’ve been living an unbelievable and crazy dream.”
