Electric 4×4 that drove from Netherlands to South Africa

Using an electric car primarily recharged using solar power, a Dutch couple has travelled from the Netherlands to South Africa.

Founders of 4×4 Electric, Maarten van Pel and Renske Cox, went on a road trip Amsterdam in a modified Skoda Enyaq iv80 SUV on 4 November 2022 and entered South Africa on 8 July 2023.

The aim for the couple is to inspire people to take action against climate change by sharing the stories of people and projects that have implemented sustainability efforts in various way. Driving roughly 24,580km, they went through four European and 18 African countries and stopped at several sustainability initiatives. Their route went southwards along Africa’s western coast after passing from Spain into Morocco.

As most African countries have very few or no dedicated electric car charging stations, between Serti in Nigeria and Banyo in Cameroon, the team travelled at an average speed of 12.2km/h over five days.

The Enyaq iv80 typically comes with 537km of range on its 77kWh battery, measured on the WLTP cycle. That works out to about 1.34% of the total round-trip distance in Africa of 40,000km. Supporting the long-distance trip, the car was fitted with a rooftop tent and -box, and all-terrain tires.

Topping up the expedition car’s battery while on the move, PV solar panels were added to the rooftop boxes and bonnet. However, the majority of power comes from a set of sixty 180Wp panels stored in six purpose-built drawers. When laid out on the ground, they cover a surface area of 60m².

A direct DC charging system developed by Venema e-mobility is the one that was uniquely setup for solar. Since it does not use a battery that requires DC-AC-DC conversion, it results in 20% less energy loss.

After making their stop in Cape Town, Van Pel and Cox, have plans for traveling back to the Netherlands, this time going up the eastern side of the continent. They appeared to be nearing the halfway mark between the Vioolsdrift border and Cape Town as of Sunday the 9th of July.

They recently had their first experience of load-shedding and shared a light-hearted moment with an EV-sceptical police official at a traffic stop.

Cox described their border crossing experience between Namibia and South Africa as being in the top two on the continent so far.

Their journey is detailed in multiple videos posted on their website, including some stunning shots of the surrounding landscapes taken with a drone.