Electrified Nissans drive from Denmark to Shanghai
Last updated Oct 18, 2010 — 10 views
No, this isn’t about the Nissan Leaf. Rather, a group of Danish drivers has successfully driven a pair of Nissan Qashqai crossover SUVs, modified to function as electric vehicles, from Copenhagen to Shanghai. It’s all part of the “Moto Mundo Electric World Tour.”
The tour, created and led by Hjalte Tin and Nina Rasmussen, aims to traverse 41,000 km through Northern Europe, Russia, China, and the U.S. (see tour map).
Tin and Rasmussen planned the tour to demonstrate to the world that electric cars “have now reached a level of functionality where drivers don’t have to compromise in order to travel smart and eco-friendly,” reports Denmark’s Beijing ministry of foreign affairs.
Moto Mundo Electric World Tour arrives at Expo 2010 Shanghai
(click each image to enlarge; source: Expo 2010 Shanghai)
The so-called “Qashqai Electric” vehicles were developed and produced by A Future Electric Vehicles in Denmark. They have a claimed range 250 km and top speed of 130 km/h. Although the vehicles are “100 percent electrical drive,” the tour is making use of small electric generators to recharge the EVs’ batteries in areas where no outside source of electricity could be found, such as during the week-long drive through the Gobi desert (see photo below).
Moto Mundo Electric World Tour traverses the Gobi desert
(click each image to enlarge; source: Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
The tour departed from Copenhagen June 25, and arrived at the 2010 Shanghai Expo China’s Denmark Pavilion October 15, completing the first major portion of its round-the-world circuit. Following a short visit at the Shanghai Expo, the vehicles will be shipped to the U.S. where the tour will spend several months driving from the West to the East Coast of the U.S., before finally returning to Denmark.
Read more about the Moto Mundo Electric World Tour here: