Norman Hajjar hopes to set the record for the world’s longest car trip powered by electricity.
The Epic Electric American Road Trip will last 18-day, cover 12,000-mile on electricity alone in Tesla Motors’ Model S electric sedan.
The trip, sponsored by electric vehicle software and information services company Recargo, would mark the longest vehicle trip ever taken using 100% electric power, endeavoring to set a Guinness World Record while emphasizing the possibilities of the nation’s current electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The record-setting trip is attempted solo by Norman Hajjar, Managing Director of Recargo’s driver research division, PlugInsights. Hajjar is driving a stock Tesla Model S sedan and navigating via Recargo’s PlugShare app for locating EV charging stations. The 27-state route spans the four corners of the lower 48 states: Washington, Maine, Florida, and California, ending at Recargo’s offices in Venice, California. Along the way, he will be charging at Tesla’s newly built, proprietary string of cross-country “Supercharger” stations, which can top off the Tesla Model S’s 250-mile+ range battery in under 30 minutes per stop.
The Epic Electric American Road Trip will navigate its route with PlugShare, Recargo’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 will be powered by a new version of PlugShare.com for Tesla drivers, uniquely adapted to the Model S’s 17″ touch screen monitor.
“We’re attempting this record-breaking journey to illustrate a historic point: With a robust network of fast charging locations, you can drive an electric car wherever you want without using a drop of gasoline,” explained Brian Kariger, CEO of Recargo. “Daily commutes and cross-country trips alike are now made better by driving electric.”
“We also want to underscore the urgent need for even more public ‘fast chargers’,” added Norman Hajjar. “We’ve conducted studies of thousands of EV drivers, and it’s clear they want to be able to fuel with the same quick ‘pit-stop practicality’ that gas car drivers enjoy at service stations. Give them that, and we believe the category will truly blossom.”
The public can follow along with the journey via live updates from the road at roadtrip.plugshare.com, where they 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.
