Woman drives Tesla around Australia in 80 days, on ground-breaking solo trip

The Driven

A Gold Coast woman has completed a solo trip around Australia in an electric car, driving 17,000km in 80 days in her Tesla Model S.

The trip, which is believed to be the first for a woman travelling solo, is an inspiring tale which also highlights the challenges electric vehicles have to overcome in the remote Australian outback.

Australia, which is notable not only for its vast distances, its harsh and at times deadly climate, but also distinct lack of EV charging infrastructure away from the more densely populated east coast, is a favourite choice for electric vehicle pioneers.

Despite, or perhaps because of, these immense challenges, the route – which invariably traverses the Nullarbor and the huge distances in the north – attracts the unlikeliest of drivers keen to tackle the ultimate EV challenge.

Similar trips have already attracted considerable media attention, including the quietly spoken Dutchman Wiebe Wakker, who took on a 3-year mission to travel from the Netherlands to Australia without using a drop of fuel in a converted VW Golf, or 70-year-old Sylvia Wilson who completed the trip, with various passengers, for a miserly charging cost of around $150.

Gold Coast woman Linda Röhrs, who completed her 80-day journey on Friday at Australia’s largest solar-powered EV charging site – Macadamia Castle on the north coast of NSW – fits the bill of unlikely pioneers down to a tee.

“I am not an expert in cars, let alone electric cars,” she openly admits.

But buy an electric car she did, and a Tesla Model S at that, which she funded by selling her home on Chevron Island after a test drive in a 100D had her hooked.

To read the full story on RenewEconomy’s electric vehicle dedicated site, The Driven, click here…