First up, we need to get Trev re-registered in South Australia. When we registered prior to departing for Zero Race, the assessor said that we’d need to complete a lane-change test prior to driving on Australian streets again. We’ve upgraded the front suspension over recent weeks and we undertook a successful swerve test last week, so we hope to be back on the road very soon.

Our next plan is to use Trev for urban commuting, which after all is what it was originally designed to do. We plan to install data loggers in the car to record energy use, then share the car amongst team members to commute and use for their everyday driving, one week each.

With Trev out and about on the streets of Adelaide, we expect to get a lot interest in the car once again, which will give us the opportunity to share our story about Zero Race, and more importantly, to demonstrate that if a  little green car can drive around the world in 80 days, it is also more than capable of commuting to and from work.

Lessons learnt

Our aim in building Trev, and in driving around the world in Zero Race, was to demonstrate that it is possible to build practical vehicles that use clean energy, and use a lot less energy than conventional cars.  We have driven from Geneva to Shanghai, from Vancouver to Cancun, and from Casablanca back to Geneva. We have driven across deserts and across mountains, through remote rural areas and through some of the world’s largest cities, on all types of roads, in all types of weather. The energy cost of the journey was less than $400 worth of electricity generated from a wind farm. The net emissions were zero.

Australians are amongst the world’s highest emitters of CO2, per person. Our energy use is high, and we generate almost all of that energy from fossil fuels. Over the next 40 years we need to reduce our per-capita emissions by 95%. To achieve this, we need vehicles like Trev.

Over the next few days will will give Trev a good clean, pack it into a crate, and ship it back to Australia. When it gets back, we will continue refining it to make it more comfortable (it is quiet outside the car, but not so quiet inside the car), more efficient (there are still some efficiency improvements we can make to the motor controller), and easier to build. It is not yet ready for the showroom. But it has shown what is possible, and hopefully will make people think about how they will get around in a future without cheap oil and with an atmosphere that cannot take any more CO2.

Trev-heads Chris and Alexandra are in Morocco. They have unpacked Trev, checked over the car, topped up the battery, and driven in the chaotic Casablanca traffic. Apparently they are not the only drivers unsure about which way to go around round-abouts.

Today they will drive to Rabat, the first stage of the final leg through Morocco, Spain, France and Switzerland to Geneva—the end of the first around-the-world Zero Race.

Zero Race arrives in Cancun

Our arrival completes the second leg of the Zero Emissions Race around the world and more than 23,000 km of driving since leaving Geneva in August.

Trev has been driven through North America from Vancouver to Cancun by Nick and Andrew, who have put in an enormous effort to overcome challenges such as reliable charging access, long driving days, cold weather, troubles with Trev’s motor controller, Mexican speed bumps and potholes up to half a metre across and 30 cm deep! A very tired Andrew and Nick have now been joined in Cancun by Peter, and the rest of Team Trev are hugely proud of their efforts.

Trev will help spread the message in Cancun that we need to be developing alternative means of travel with low carbon emissions and low energy use. In a few days’ time we will put Trev on a ship back to Europe for the final leg of Zero Race, arriving back at the start line at the UN headquarters in Geneva in late January.

There have been many highlights of the trip through North America. We will  write about these in future blog posts, coming soon.

We are very grateful for the ongoing support of our sponsors who have helped us get this far: UniSA, Google Australia, Galaxy Resources, EcoGreen Electrical, Design Ecology, ABN Newswire and Catcon.

Nick and Andrew had arrived in Vancouver carrying spare parts from Australia: a new rear wheel, spare shock absorbers, software updates and various spare circuit boards. They had a couple of days to inspect for any damage to Trev from the long drive from Geneva to Shanghai, to perform some technical upgrades, to get the official paperwork sorted for our North American drive and to sort out an array of electrical sockets  and chargers for the different power outlets we anticipate in North America. Busy busy.

Athlete's Village, Vancouver (courtesy of Zero Race)

The North American leg commenced at the Athlete’s Village in Vancouver on Friday 12th November, and headed south to Seattle, where we participated in the Seattle International Motor Show. From there it was down to Portland in Oregon, driving through beautiful, thickly forested landscapes. It has been wet and misty, which isn’t ideal weather for electric vehicles, but so far so good.

Zero Race vehicles with the eVaro EV (courtesy of Zero Race)

Trev at the Seattle International Motor Show (courtesy of Zero Race)

We have been overwhelmed with the  enthusiasm from supporters and hosts along the way so far in North America. It’s great being able to speak the same language (unlike most of the first leg of Zero Race), and there have been electric vehicle associations who have been very generous to the Zero Race teams. Vancouver, Seattle and Portland are at the forefront of sustainable transport innovation, and it was great learning about the electric vehicle charging facilities they’re installing in advance of the first wave of mass produced electric vehicles, which are just starting to appear on the streets.

Andrew, our newest Team Trev Zero Race driver (courtesy of Zero Race)

In the meantime, here is some more video of Trev in Berlin, being repaired and being driven.

Trev being repaired in Berlin

Driving into Shanghai

If we wanted to be cheeky, we’d claim that Trev was first across the line into Shanghai and therefore the winner of the first leg of Zero Race, but it’s not that simple. ZeroTracer has consistently been the fastest and most reliable competitor so far, being a high performance, highly refined production vehicle. Trev, on the other hand, is a prototype built by keen amateurs, and is designed for urban commuting rather than circumnavigations, so we’re thrilled at how Trev is performing. Team Vectrix is also doing a fabulous job, overcoming electrical issues to remain in the race.

Zero Race participants in Shanghai

Motorcycles aren’t allowed on the Chinese motorways, so ZeroTracer and Team Vectrix have often been forced onto the secondary roads. Trev has been able to remain on the motorways though because it is a car instead of motorcycle, despite the rules banning three wheeled vehicles. Trev looks like a normal car from the front, so by the time tollbooth operators realise that Trev has only three wheels, we’ve already driven off.

Trev turns heads in China

Congratulations to all Zero Race participants and organisers in making it to Shanghai safely and on schedule. We look forward to the next leg of our journey, across North America to Cancun in Mexico, in time for the UN Climate Change Conference in late November.

Trev in Shanghai

Trev, ZeroTracer, Team Vectrix and the Zero Race support vehicle have been loaded into a shipping container, and will shortly be loaded onto a ship bound for Vancouver. Zero Race recommences in Vancouver on November the 5th.

Being loaded into the shipping container

Chinese highway (courtesy of Zero Race)

We’ve been driving big distances through vast desert landscapes. Trev has just set its new record for the distance driven on one charge: 260km. This is about what we’d designed Trev to achieve, but we’ve previously only been able to manage about 200km.

Vast desert landscapes (courtesy of Zero Race)

At Jiayaguan we visited the Great Wall of China, at the westernmost section of the Ming Great Wall. It is also the only part of the Great Wall which crosses the ancient Silk Route, which has been our driving route since Almaty in Kazakhstan. Dickson even managed to try out a local renewable energy vehicle (a.k.a. a camel).

Dickson tries a local renewable energy vehicle (courtesy of Zero Race)

Dickson is spending long long hours in the cockpit, keeping the kilometres ticking over and staying on schedule to arrive in Shanghai this Thursday. With any luck he will meet up in Danyang with representatives from our sponsor Galaxy Resources for an opportunity to drive Trev into Shanghai.

Truck stop noodles (courtesy of Zero Race)