RE: 10,000 miles in a Nissan Leaf
Wednesday 19th July 2017
The Mongol Rally is one of the most gruelling automotive challenges on earth, taking drivers across terrain largely impassable to all cars bar the most rugged of off-roaders. But one man has decided that it is not quite tough enough. Chris Ramsey and his wife won't be taking it on in a purpose-built car, designed to take on the 10,000-miles - oh no. Instead, he has chosen to do it in a 30kWh Nissan Leaf.
Chris, you're one brave man!Travelling to meet with Chris and the car, I expect to be presented with a heavily bastardised machine, similar to the 'Mini Countryman' that competes in the Dakar, or a Mad Max'd version of Nissan's EV - the last of the 30kWh interceptors, if you will. What I encounter instead is very surprising indeed. It is simply a Nissan Leaf, wrapped and ready to go with just a few minor modifications.
Route is a long way even on a sticker...A roof rack has been fitted for extra storage and a 16,400 lumen LED light bar will make it far easier to drive at night. Inside, the rear seats have been removed to provide added space, as the husband and wife duo will be spending two and a half months in it together. That sounds like enough of a challenge without all this rally nonsense!
Just a few thousand miles to go...Even with every detail accounted for though, there have been stories of cars known to be mechanically reliable literally falling to pieces on the trip. So how does Chris acknowledge the challenge? He says there are many towns within the Leaf's official range, but if it comes to a point where something breaks, he is relying on the goodness of local people - and he's ready to flag down passing trucks for help. He also reckons it's actually easier to ask someone who doesn't speak his language for more fuel by simply showing them a plug when asking for a charge. Chris is not even fazed by his lack of technical knowledge, confident that an electric car will be easier to fix as there is less to go wrong. Let's hope he is right!
10,000 miles in a Nissan Leaf
Taking on one of the world's toughest automotive challenges, without a drop of fuel
Chris, you're one brave man!
The suspension has been raised to provide better ground clearance; a 6mm aluminium sump guard has been fitted, with plates welded to the underside of the wishbones and braided brake lines to provide a little more protection. Speedline wheels on narrow tyres will make it easier to find replacements, as Chris is only travelling with one spare. A two-pin charging adaptor which is used throughout Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, a three phase 6.6kWh cable and caravan commando connection will keep him covered in terms of charging.
Route is a long way even on a sticker...
This may sound like a mad idea, but Chris is no stranger to extreme distance motoring. Having driven his Leaf from John O'Groats to Land's End and made it all the way from Edinburgh to Monaco, he sees the previous trips as training for the gruelling journey ahead.
The Mongol Rally, however, is well known for having no set route; teams must try to complete the journey however they can while driving small, sub-1,000cc Sheds - with no support vehicles - all in the name of raising money for charity. Even though the Leaf isn't considered a Shed, the organisers accepted it for showing a commitment to sustainability. Chris has thoroughly researched his route, taking him from Goodwood to Brussels, through to Vienna and Istanbul, then to Baku where they will take the ferry to Aktau in Kazakhstan. His route also includes an attempt to be the first person to drive an electric car from the most westerly point to the most easterly point in Kazakhstan, before heading to Siberia and into Mongolia.
Just a few thousand miles to go...
And after the rally? There are plans for something bigger and even more daring, but Chris is tight-lipped when it comes to discussing specifics. He and his wife are currently mid-way through Europe having left Goodwood on Sunday; you can keep up to date with them via his Plug in Adventures on Facebook and Twitter.
Good luck!
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Discussion
User33678888 said:
As much as I embrace the differentness of this, it's going to take at least 100 charges to get there. It'll get really boring really quickly. The Leaf makes sense as a city car, but for this? Maybe in a Tesla Model X...
I don't think anyone, even at Nissan (the makers of the GTR!) will be claiming it's the best tool for the job! 
However, range is undoubtedly one of the main sticking points for car buyers when considering an electric car, so by doing this journey in a Leaf it'll be a huge marketing boost in that respect.
User33678888 said:
As much as I embrace the differentness of this, it's going to take at least 100 charges to get there. It'll get really boring really quickly. The Leaf makes sense as a city car, but for this? Maybe in a Tesla Model X...
I think it is a myth that EVs are just for cities, city dwellers often don't have cars! The people who get the biggest benefit are the big mileage drivers with a decent-sized but regular commute. a Leaf obviously doesn't work for a high mileage travelling salesman, but the 30kWh one would cover a lot of people's driving. mongol Rally veteran here! Did it in a 40-year-old army truck back in 2014 (Southern route through Iran).
So apparently real world range is around 100 miles? Depending on the route it should be interesting to find charging points in the middle of nowhere in Kazachstan or mongolia as you can drive for more than a hundred miles without seeing anything with a wall socket. They probably have a small petrol generator on board for just in case?
So apparently real world range is around 100 miles? Depending on the route it should be interesting to find charging points in the middle of nowhere in Kazachstan or mongolia as you can drive for more than a hundred miles without seeing anything with a wall socket. They probably have a small petrol generator on board for just in case?
Another Southern Route (Iraq/Iran/Stans in 2012) Veteran Here! What is the real world range for a leaf? Real world as in climbing 4500m mountain passes whilst heavily laden in 45C heat?
We took a 1.3 diesel Fiat Doblo and despite fuelling up where possible came pretty close to using all of our available range (40l emergency fuel in Jerry Cans). In Kazakhstan especially, there are vast distances that are completely empty. I'm guessing they're avoiding entering mongolia via the remote Western border and taking the more civilised (boring) tarmac route through Russia.
As someone already mentioned - to me it sounds incredibly dull and a massive waste of what was an incredible experience. Each to their own though I guess!
We took a 1.3 diesel Fiat Doblo and despite fuelling up where possible came pretty close to using all of our available range (40l emergency fuel in Jerry Cans). In Kazakhstan especially, there are vast distances that are completely empty. I'm guessing they're avoiding entering mongolia via the remote Western border and taking the more civilised (boring) tarmac route through Russia.
As someone already mentioned - to me it sounds incredibly dull and a massive waste of what was an incredible experience. Each to their own though I guess!
Edited by snowandrocks on Wednesday 19th July 15:43
Evoquative said:
User33678888 said:
As much as I embrace the differentness of this, it's going to take at least 100 charges to get there. It'll get really boring really quickly. The Leaf makes sense as a city car, but for this? Maybe in a Tesla Model X...
I think it is a myth that EVs are just for cities, city dwellers often don't have cars! The people who get the biggest benefit are the big mileage drivers with a decent-sized but regular commute. a Leaf obviously doesn't work for a high mileage travelling salesman, but the 30kWh one would cover a lot of people's driving. For a year I had a 120 mile daily commute and my Leaf was perfect for this, with the added benefit that my employer was paying for half of my 'fuel'.
Have they added extra batteries? Wiebe Walker is currently doing something similar and he extended the range in his with additional batteries: http://www.plugmeinproject.com/
tankplanker said:
Have they added extra batteries? Wiebe Walker is currently doing something similar and he extended the range in his with additional batteries: http://www.plugmeinproject.com/
Talking to Chris he was adamant that the drivetrain is standard and he has found that 20mph with two bubbles is the best way to get the 155-mile official range out of the Leaf. He reckons that is as fast he can go across Kazakhstan without causing any damage to the car.
Nik
Nik Attard said:
Talking to Chris he was adamant that the drivetrain is standard and he has found that 20mph with two bubbles is the best way to get the 155-mile official range out of the Leaf.
He reckons that is as fast he can go across Kazakhstan without causing any damage to the car.
Nik
Even a claimed 155 miles doesn't seem enough to me.He reckons that is as fast he can go across Kazakhstan without causing any damage to the car.
Nik
20 mph across Kazakhstan sounds fairly horrific. The distances are massive - we were flat out for quite a lot of it (~80 mph in the Doblo!) and were getting overtaken regularly by locals. Road conditions varied from perfect fast tarmac to car sized potholes to deep soft momentum sapping sand.
mongolia much worse if using the proper route in through the western border.
Edited by snowandrocks on Wednesday 19th July 17:31
article said:
This may sound like a mad idea, but Chris is no stranger to extreme distance motoring. Having driven his Leaf from John O'Groats to Land's End and made it all the way from Edinburgh to Monaco, he sees the previous trips as training for the gruelling journey ahead.
Is this serious? I'd take note of the poster I've quoted belowsnowandrocks said:
20 mph across Kazakhstan sounds fairly horrific. The distances are massive - we were flat out for quite a lot of it (~80 mph in the Doblo!) and were getting overtaken regularly by locals. Road conditions varied from perfect fast tarmac to car sized potholes to deep soft momentum sapping sand.
I've not done any driving in mongolia, but having experienced long distance driving in Africa, I can relate to the above. At 20mph average you will spend all your time worrying about getting rear ended by the very fast (poorly driven) local traffic. The speed they go at on such poor condition roads is an eye opener. A heavily laden Leaf, with a roof rack doing a lot of stop/start/acceleration between smooth tarmac and craters is going to struggle to get close to it's official range?
I'm not quite sure how much help you will get from locals by dangling a plug in front of them. With the best will in the world they won't be able to give electric if there is no electric for 100's of miles. Can a leaf be towed? As I'll expect that will be the only option the locals can give you.
Maybe the participants have a huge inverter with them to connect to a truck battery? They can then sustainably charge up for a few hours whilst the truck idles away?
It's a different challenge I'll give it that. But it does sound like there is an assumption that mongolia has even a fraction of the infrastructure that Western Europe has.
Nik Attard said:
Talking to Chris he was adamant that the drivetrain is standard and he has found that 20mph with two bubbles is the best way to get the 155-mile official range out of the Leaf.
He reckons that is as fast he can go across Kazakhstan without causing any damage to the car.
Nik
Twenty mph? Our army truck wouldn't go above 60 mph and that was already very slow. It took us very long days (minimum of 10 hours of driving a day, every day) to get anywhere.He reckons that is as fast he can go across Kazakhstan without causing any damage to the car.
Nik
Even with 20 mph you can still hit a pothole and wreck stuff. We broke part of our water pump housing when the front axle hit the engine block when we went through a pothole at 30 mph (and became airborne).
But mostly it's the constant vibration that's going to kill your car if you're driving on unpaved roads. I've seen a couple of rallyers with sheared off suspension towers on those unpaved roads.
snowandrocks said:
Another Southern Route (Iraq/Iran/Stans in 2012) Veteran Here! What is the real world range for a leaf? Real world as in climbing 4500m mountain passes whilst heavily laden in 45C heat?
We took a 1.3 diesel Fiat Doblo and despite fuelling up where possible came pretty close to using all of our available range (40l emergency fuel in Jerry Cans). In Kazakhstan especially, there are vast distances that are completely empty. I'm guessing they're avoiding entering mongolia via the remote Western border and taking the more civilised (boring) tarmac route through Russia.
As someone already mentioned - to me it sounds incredibly dull and a massive waste of what was an incredible experience. Each to their own though I guess!
Probably most of the western route has been paved by now. Back in 2014 they were working on it. I've never seen asphalt that smooth and ending so abruptly We took a 1.3 diesel Fiat Doblo and despite fuelling up where possible came pretty close to using all of our available range (40l emergency fuel in Jerry Cans). In Kazakhstan especially, there are vast distances that are completely empty. I'm guessing they're avoiding entering mongolia via the remote Western border and taking the more civilised (boring) tarmac route through Russia.
As someone already mentioned - to me it sounds incredibly dull and a massive waste of what was an incredible experience. Each to their own though I guess!
Edited by snowandrocks on Wednesday 19th July 15:43
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