This Tesla driver just finished an electric around-the-world trip. For the fourth time.
After just over six months on the road, two Teslas have driven around the world powered by electricity – including an entire family, with 3 young children, in a Tesla Model 3. But for one of the drivers it’s nothing new, as this was actually his fourth round-the-world trip in an EV – the first being way back in 2012.
80edays is the brainchild of Rafael de Mestre, the aforementioned owner who just finished his fourth round-the-world journey in an EV.
It started in 2012, when he heard about a pair of engineers navigating around the world in a Citroen C-Zero, a rebadged Mitsubishi i-MiEV, one of the early EVs of the modern era. de Mestre, however, owned a Tesla Roadster, the car that jump-started the modern EV moment, and thought there’s no way he was going to let a Citroen be the first around the world.
So, off he set in a self-declared “race” against the other team, wanting to beat them and be the first. After plenty of trials and drama, in a time when there were scarce public charging locations to be found even in advanced nations, and before Supercharging existed, de Mestre ended up winning the race and becoming the first to complete an electric circumnavigation of the globe. You can still find his driving and charging route here.
Despite the lack of infrastructure for his first race, and still-lacking infrastructure in many parts of the globe since, de Mestre likes to say “wherever there is light burning, you can find a charge” – and he carries a comically-crowded trunk full of custom charge adapters to make sure he can do this anywhere around the globe.
Since then, de Mestre has achieved the feat multiple times, often recruiting teams to go with him. In 2016, the trip included 9 Teslas, 1 Denza (a BYD/Daimler joint brand) and a Hungarian-made electric bus – though de Mestre drove a much more comfortable Tesla Model S that time, rather than his tiny Roadster.
In 2022, he set off again in his Roadster, and we caught up with him as he passed through California. This journey was notable for including what de Mestre believes is the first zero-emission transatlantic trip by car, as he shipped the Roadster in the cargo hold of a wind-powered cargo ship, which barely fit due to the car’s exceptionally small size.
And in 2024, he and a Czech family – Zdenek, Hanna, Max (11), Damian (8) and Laura (6) Martinek – took their Model S and Model 3, respectively, around the world. They started on April 24 of this year, and finished on November 3 under the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona – where de Mestre, who was born in Catalunya, has always started and ended his trips.
They were joined at times by other drivers who took on parts of the route, like a Kia Niro which joined to Morocco, but these two cars were the only finishers of the entire circumnavigation.
The most significant achievement of this trip was the inclusion of an entire family of five this time, all within a single Tesla Model 3. In 2016 a father and his adult daughter finished the trip, but there hadn’t been any full families or children on previous instances of 80edays until now. The trip set an Official World Record for first round-the-world trip in an electric car by a family, and longest trip in an electric car in a family.
Now, the Model 3 is a fine-sized car, with plenty of room for five passengers and impressive cargo space for a mid-size sedan… but then add all of their stuff, and send them around the world, and it’s quite impressive that that was all possible in a single normal-sized car. The car used an additional cargo box attached to the tow hitch, but this was lost due to border difficulties in China, so the family had to manage with just the car’s default cargo space (so much for the Americans who think their chihuahua needs an entire third row for itself…)
de Mestre also set a record for longest-driven trip in an electric car, at 42,015km, crossing 36 countries along the way. And each of his EVs have now done two trips around the world, seemingly the only two EVs to have done not just one, but multiple circumnavigations. The latter of which, the Model S, started the trip with over 600,000km (372k miles) on the odometer.
Along the way, the group met with local Tesla clubs in many areas, and with friends around the world from previous trips de Mestre has taken. They also gave presentations about EV driving in some places that are a little more off the beaten path, particularly central Asia.
On this trip, we also caught up with the crew briefly for lunch when they passed through Los Angeles and gave them a quick ride in a Waymo, which was everyone’s first time in a truly driverless vehicle and inspired some fun reactions from the kids. (Read more about a tougher test we gave Waymo on a chaotic Venice Beach weekend here)
The group was in good spirits at the time, but was about to hit the lowest point of the trip – significant difficulties with both shipping and customs getting the cars to China. Due to customs, they had to give up a lot of their luggage, including the Model 3’s external cargo holder. One of de Mestre’s repeated goals with this project is to create a more open world, with fewer borders, and freer movement and more cooperation across them, after experiencing so much frustration during his various trips.
Between these troubles and the international nature of climate change, de Mestre has largely decided that borders are a roadblock to solving many of the world’s problems. When two countries are polluting across borders, rather than working together to solve the problem, what will often happen is that each one blames the other and does nothing to improve the situation – all the while, the global problem continues, and everyone is worse off for it. Cooperation is the answer, not isolation.
And speaking of climate change: on the same day the group finished their trip in Barcelona, the city felt the devastating effects of climate-affected storms which have been hammering Spain’s eastern coast recently, and came to Barcelona yesterday with floods that have disrupted transportation and have killed hundreds in the region over the past week. Not only were these storms made more common by climate change, but their intensity was increased, with more precipitation which overloads infrastructure that was built for a more normal climate, which we as humans are rapidly moving away from due to the combustion of fossil fuels.
Which puts a point on this whole exercise: despite that this is obviously an unnecessary, fun thing to do, it’s still making some important symbolic points. We have cleaner transportation options available to us today, and we are only making them harder to implement by putting up borders and reducing cooperation between nations. de Mestre and the Martineks have shown us all, once again, that there are better options available to us – we need only start taking them.
And finally, I’ll ask the same question I’ve been asking since 2012, with more and more evidence building every day: Who says you can’t roadtrip in an EV?
You can learn more about the trip and see pics & vids on instagram at @80edays_official, find Zdenek and his family at @tesloukolemsveta (mostly in Czech language), or support the project (which had significant cost overruns due to border processing issues) through Rafael’s Patreon. There’s a writeup of the trip here, and more info on 80edays’ website.
Charge your electric vehicle at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergySage, for free. They have pre-vetted installers competing for your business, ensuring high-quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive guidance from unbiased Energy Advisers. Get started here. – ad*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
CASE arrived at bauma 2025 with an innovative new electric wheel loader with a striking, sharp-edged design that ditches the traditional operator cab in favor of remote or autonomous operation for improved accessibility and safety.
Yes, the new Impact is currently just a concept, but CASE New Holland (CNH) has a history of turning its concepts – or parts of them, anyway – into reality, so we have to take this latest bauma debut at least a little bit seriously.
CASE says the cabin-less design of the Impact electric wheel loader enhances operational flexibility by enabling operations in extreme environments and adverse weather conditions. It also means that job site, disaster recovery, or even rescue operations can continue 24/7, with operators in different time zones logging in for their shifts.
More important – and more practical – is CASE’s claim that the new Impact concept, “marks a significant advancement in accessibility, as operators with motor impairments and other disabilities can now operate the machine without physical limitations, representing an important step toward inclusivity in the industry.”
Along with integrated AI, a full suite of sensors, and autonomous operation built in, CASE says the Impact is a glimpse into a smarter, safer, and more sustainable working future.
Electrek’s Take
Driven by an aging workforce and not enough new talent entering the field, virtually every industrial field is struggling with an international equipment operator shortage. The concept of automation addresses some of that, but remote operation open up the field significantly, and I could easily older operators forced out of work due to injury getting back into it or younger operators halfway around the world who would give anything for an opportunity – and paycheck – like this could provide.
Smart move from CASE, and it’s great to hear them call that out specifically.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CASE New Holland (CNH).
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Environment
Demand spike, incentives bust, and tariffs: Renewable energy’s biggest stress test is here
Mint Images | Mint Images Rf | Getty Images
Electricity grid demands are on the rise in part due to energy-hungry technology like AI, and while experts believe renewable energy alone is not enough, it is essential to a broader supply equation. But with funding freezes, subsidy walk backs and tariffs on key components all on the table, solar, wind, and hydrogen companies are working harder than ever to make their business models work, even if they never intended to rely on federal support for the long term.
“One of the hats I used to wear was planning for the City of New York. For the longest time, there was decreasing [energy] demand,” said Aseem Kapur, chief revenue officer of GM Energy, an arm of General Motors that the company introduced in 2022. “Over the course of the last five or so years, that equation has changed. Utilities are facing unprecedented demand.”
Beyond New York City, U.S. energy demand is poised to grow upwards of 16% in the next five years, a big difference from the 0.5%it grew each year on average from 2001 to 2024, according to the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
For the renewable energy companies looking to break into the mainstream, subsidies have helped them get through their early days of growth. But President Trump has targeted these solutions from the first day of his presidency. In an executive order from Jan. 20, the Trump administration promised to “unleash” an era of fossil fuels exploration and production while also eliminating “unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies.” Last week, Trump issued an EO pushing for more coal production.
In a six-year study breaking down energy subsidies from the U.S. Energy Information Administration from 2022 (the most recent edition), 46% of federal energy subsidies were associated with renewable energy, making them the largest slice of the energy pie. At the same time, natural gas and petroleum subsidies became a net cost to the government in 2022, reversing what had been a source of revenue inflows.
“Every company I’ve talked to recognizes that subsidies were required to help them through an R&D cycle, but they all believed they had to get to a cost parity point,” said Ross Meyercord, CEO of Propel Software (and former Salesforce CIO), whose manufacturing software solution serves energy clients like Invinity Energy Systems and Eos Energy Storage. “Every company had that baked into their business model. It may happen faster than they were planning on, and obviously that creates challenges.”
Meyercord believes that clean energy companies can handle either a subsidy decrease or a rise in tariffs, but both at the same time will add substantial stress to the market, which could have negative downstream effects on the grid — and the people who rely on it.
‘Not going to get rid of fossil fuels overnight’
Like any energy source, Kapur says success always comes down to economics. In the current environment, with interest rates, and fears that inflation will reignite, he said, “it’s going to come down to, ‘What are the most cost-effective solutions that can be brought to market?'” That may vary by region, he added, but notes that solar and energy storage have already reached parity in many cases and, in some instances, are below the cost of producing energy from natural gas or coal-powered resources.
This economics equation is true even in Texas, where the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton has voiced anti-renewables sentiment in favor of the coal market (his lawsuit against major investment firm BlackRock and others in late November claims these firms sought to “weaponize their shares to pressure the coal companies to accommodate ‘green energy’ goals”). Wind accounts for 24% of the state’s energy profile, according to the Texas Comptroller, suggesting a penchant for any energy source that’s viable and cost-effective.
“The reality is, we’re not going to get rid of fossil fuels overnight,” said Whit Irvin Jr., CEO of hydrogen energy company Q Hydrogen. “They are going to have a very significant piece in our energy ecosystem for decades, and as new technologies come out on a larger scale, the use of fossil fuels will be curtailed, but we need to continue research, development and innovation in a way that makes sense.”
Irvin emphasizes the need for innovation from all sides, including creating new technologies that have a massive impact on large scalability and carbon reduction. “We don’t want to turn off that spigot. We just want to make sure that it’s going to the right places,” he said.
Hydrogen energy itself is one such source of innovation. Hydrogen ranges in sustainability depending on the fuel it uses to source its hydrogen. For example, green hydrogen — the only climate-neutral form of hydrogen energy — stems from renewable energy surplus. Grey hydrogen stems from natural gas methane. Q Hydrogen is working to open the world’s first renewable hydrogen power plant that will be economically viable without a subsidy. Irvin Jr. says the company, which produces hydrogen using water, plans to launch its New Hampshire facility this year.
“Hydrogen fuel cells are a really good way to provide backup power or even prime power to a data center that would be considered essentially off grid,” said Irvin, likening hydrogen fuel cell production to a form of battery storage. While hydrogen is not the most economical because of its comparative immaturity, Irvin said heightened energy demand will outcompete cost sensitivity for tech companies requiring more and more data storage.
While hydrogen projects continue to reap federal incentives to propel the industry forward, Irvin said subsidies were never part of his company’s business equation. “If they do exist, we’ll be able to take advantage of them,” he said. “If they don’t exist, that will still be fine for us.”
But that might not be true for every alternative energy company depending on where they’re at in the R&D cycle. Changes in federal incentives have real power to shift the progression of renewable energy in the U.S., especially when combined with tariffs that could stifle companies’ international relationships and supply chains. Meyercord, Kapur and Irvin all foresee private industry partnerships making a huge impact for the future of the grid, but recognize that the strain is increasing as energy tech of all kinds becomes smarter and more grid-dependent.
Based on the excellent Hyundai IONIQ 5 N platform, Vanwall gives its Vandervell H-GT a high-performance aesthetic makeover inspired by the classic Lancia Delta HF Integrale. But what makes this body kit a genuine “high-performance” upgrade isn’t the way it makes the car look: it’s the 500 lb. weight savings!
Developed by Austrian racing team ByKOLLES Racing and invoking the name of a 1950s Formula 1 team, the Vandervell H-GT is essentially a new Hyundai IONIQ 5 N in aggressive, Lancia Delta-inspired carbon-fiber bodywork that the company claims gives the car an, “unprecedented weight optimization in this vehicle category.”
The H-GT’s new “thin wall” carbon fiber body slashes the car’s weight by over 230 kg (507 lbs.), which means ByKOLLES’ new Vandervell can do anything that Hyundai’s “special” IONIQ 5 N hot hatch can do. Only faster.
Raw carbon, raw performance
Mechanically identical to the IONIQ 5 N and packing the same 641 hp (with N Grin Boost) and 568 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to launch the Hyundai version of the hatchback from a standstill to 60 mph in just 3.0 seconds.
After its 500 lb. crash diet, it’s even quicker.
The car was first announced in 2023 (along with the renderings shown, below), when ByKOLLES was competing in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with what used to be called an LMP car – but they keep changing the names of these things so it could be a Daytona Prototype, Hypercar, or even a 24 Hour LeMans Wonkavator by now.
The important part, however, is that a few of these cars have now broken cover, with ex-Formula 1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, having been seen trying the new-age Lancia on for size.
The Vanwall Vandervell website still shows the same €128,000 ($145,405, as I type this) price tag and specs it did in 2023, which either means they haven’t updated it in a while, were really, really good at pricing the thing in the first place, or both.
That’s presumably on top of the IONIQ N’s already hefty $66,100 price tag.
Electrek’s Take
This isn’t the first time my weird love of Lancia models from the 70s and 80s has been highlighted on these digital pages, but even my biased sensibilities can see that this is a unique, ultra-luxury statement piece that offers supercar levels of performance with the sort of daily driver dependability that Hyundai has offered for years.
It’s an incredible machine – and the only thing they did wrong, in my book, was not show one in Martini colors on its debut.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Vanwall Vandervell; CarExpert.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway