Luxembourg to Nordkapp with a Tesla Model X: Interview with Olivier Defoort

When the operating range of an electric vehicle is no longer a constraint!

We caught up with Olivier Defoort before he set off on 3 February for Norway’s North Cape in his Tesla Model X, and find out why he wanted to make such a long journey in an electric car. He convinced us to support him in this extraordinary endeavour, which chimes perfectly with our values and aspirations for greener forms of mobility.

Olivier, can you tell us about this project and why you chose it?

On 3 February, we will leave Luxembourg in my car, a 100%-electric Tesla Model X, with the aim of reaching the North Cape, Europe’s northernmost point, and then getting all the way back to Luxembourg.

In doing so, we want to show that it’s possible to travel long distances in an electric car, in this case 7,500,km, crossing five countries (Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway), without using a single drop of petrol or emitting any CO2.

I’m going with a co-driver, Nihat Sabotic, and we hope to reach our continent’s northern extremity and return within 14 days, although we are not subject to any time pressure. As you might expect, the journey time is going to depend on the weather conditions, which are very tough up north at the moment.

Why Norway?

First of all, we chose Norway because we love its spectacular scenery, natural environment and magnificent fjords. Secondly, Norway is one of the countries where electric car use is most advanced. It has been able to develop an extensive electric vehicle charging network and offers electric car drivers a number of tax and social benefits.

Also, it’s currently the polar night season over there. The weather is pretty brutal, especially for electric cars as they use a lot of energy heating the interior and running the batteries. These factors obviously reduce the car’s range: while Tesla says you should get 565 km per charge with this Model X, this falls to 300 km in winter conditions.

And although that makes our trip to the North Cape’s cliff edge more complicated, it will be even more exciting to be able to say that we can go so far in an electric car, even in such bad weather conditions.

Tell us about your car: the Tesla Model X

The Tesla Model X is an SUV with a 100 kWh battery. It is also an exceptionally powerful car. Of course that makes it more expensive than other types of electric vehicle, but it’s worth the investment.

And Tesla is the only electric car manufacturer to offer its own network of charging points. Its infrastructure is well developed and located on well-travelled roads; it has superchargers where you can get an 80% charge in 45 minutes, which is much, much faster than for other electric vehicles. A full charge takes 1 hour 20 minutes on a supercharger. Using a normal socket, 1 hour will give you a 66 km charge, and a full charge takes 5 hours.

European Card of Tesla’s superchargers

At the moment, Teslas have a far greater range than other electric cars, but that should change over time.

Given the limitations of a fully electric car, have you planned your journey in a lot of detail?

It’s worth giving some thought to your driving habits when driving an electric car if you’re used to a combustion engine. But this doesn’t mean that you have to map everything out in minute detail. You just have to plan your stops so you can charge the battery. To optimise charging times, we are planning to stop at places with superchargers during meal or rest breaks. With Tesla’s ultra-connected cars, you have access to all your journey information and can organise your itinerary according to the location of charging points.

Also, we haven’t made any hotel bookings. We’re going to plan our route depending on the weather and road conditions, and we’ll book into a hotel two hours before we stop. When we set off, we should be able to go very fast on the motorways, but once we get to the fjords, the roads will be pretty snowbound and our progress will be much slower.

Do you have any concerns about the constraints that go with electric vehicles?

The thing is, although you have to take a different approach when you’re driving an electric car, there aren’t any constraints when you know your vehicle. And that’s what we want to show with this trip: that any concerns or issues around electric vehicles can be resolved.

Major technological advances have been made in this field, and it’s only a question of time before other car manufacturers start producing cars with the range and charging times that Tesla offers. As for Tesla, the forthcoming arrival of the lower-priced Model 3 will make its cars more affordable.