The Earth Day marks the completion of the record-setting Epic Electric American Road Trip, a 24-day, 12,183-mile battery-powered journey sponsored by electric vehicle software and information services company Recargo Inc.
The trip is seeking Guinness World Record verification for longest vehicle journey ever taken using 100% electric power, and served to emphasize the possibilities of the nation’s current electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Norman Hajjar, Managing Director of Recargo’s driver research division, PlugInsights, crossed the finish line in a stock Tesla Model S sedan. At the trip’s end, Norman has ventured across a 27-state route spanning the four corners of the lower 48 states: Washington, Maine, Florida, and California, ending at Recargo’s offices in Venice, California. Hajjar took advantage of Tesla’s newly built, proprietary string of cross-country “Supercharger” stations, in order to make the coast-to-coast electric venture.
“We wanted to illustrate what’s possible with the nation’s charging infrastructure, and draw attention to needs for further improvement,” said Norman Hajjar. “The plausibility of a mass switch to EV usage in America simply can’t be separated from the need for a robust fast-charging network. I’ve traveled over 12,000 miles in under 3.5 weeks. With the proper infrastructure, there’s nothing an EV can’t do.”
Live updates from the road and photostreams were made available at roadtrip.plugshare.com, offering an interactive experience where viewers can pinpoint the vehicle’s location, track its speed and energy usage, and interact with the driver using the @plugshare live Twitter feed and using the hashtag #EpicEVTrip.
Recargo’s Epic Electric American Road Trip navigated via PlugShare, the company’s widely used mobile app directory of public electric vehicle charging stations. PlugShare helps electric vehicle drivers pinpoint charging locations from a database of over 48,000 public charging stations worldwide. The Epic Electric American Road Trip was be powered by a new version of PlugShare.com for Tesla drivers, uniquely adapted to the Model S’s 17″ touch screen monitor.
