It took only 44 hours to drive around our country in an electric car. The action was organised by journalists of the Francuskie.pl automotive portal, who wanted to refer in this way to a similar expedition from nearly 100 years ago and check whether such travelling around Poland is possible nowadays.
Where did the idea for such a journey come from? Ten years after Poland regained its independence, a “petrol escapade” set off around our country. The course of this journey was described in an excellent book by Zdzisław Kleszczyński: the developing country at that time was not as friendly to automobiles as it is today – many roads were missing, and the condition of some of them cried to heaven. The author and his travelling companions had many adventures, going around Poland, which took them many days.
This electric escapade is a repetition of that feat from long ago, within the borders of present-day Poland; instead of an Austro-Daimler with a chauffeur, an electric Renault set off on its journey, and the entire route, with non-stop driving interrupted only by recharging the car, took just less than two days. Motorways, motorways, suburban and even country roads, cities, towns and villages were all part of the escapade.
The electric car set off from Warsaw and drove almost three thousand kilometres, visiting Biala Podlaska, Zamosc, Rzeszow, Cracow, Wroclaw, Zielona Gora, Gorzow Wielkopolski, Szczecin, Koszalin, Gdansk, Olsztyn, Grajewo and finally back to Biala Podlaska. The whole trip took 44 hours non-stop, including charging and changing drivers along the way. The average electricity consumption was 17.3 kWh/100 km. During the whole expedition, the car consumed 464.36 kWh of electricity, driving a total of just over 2700 kilometres.
The expedition was reported live on the page of the Francuskie.pl automotive daily. It also featured a map, through which it was possible to track the current location of the vehicle live. Materials were also posted on social media with the tag #ElektrycznaEskapada. The range of a modern electric car is 400-600 kilometres. Such a car can be easily driven everywhere and it can even be charged from an ordinary socket, and if we care about time, from fast chargers. They can be found all over the country.
The electric escapade abounded in many meetings and conversations about motoring, which took place while the car was being charged. People they met, like Mr Piotr from Zamość, owner of an electric Kangoo, emphasised the advantages of electric cars: quiet driving, low operating and service costs. No wonder more and more cars with green plates appear on our streets. Access to ecological cars is facilitated by the government subsidy programme ‘My Electric Car’, in which one can get up to PLN 27,000 in subsidies.
Renault, manufacturer of the Renault Megane E-Tech car, and Greenway, operator of a network of fast chargers, were the partners in the action.