OUR PV POWER PLANT

OUR SOLAR POWER GAINED DURING WAVE

Our team (Andrej and Jasna Pecjak) were attending WAVE 2014 (World Advanced Vehicle Expedition) with our new long range car Metron 7.  The car was shown to public for the first time at WAVE and there we proved that it has the highest range without charging of all electric cars !

At WAVE 2014 we took first place in range competition leaving 140 km behind even Tesla cars.

The reason we joined WAVE is not competition, turism or business promotion, but on the first hand spreading and promoting the idea of sustainnable mobillity. WAVE is a mission, it is a constantly moving wave of ideas, people and technics that could give all people the chance to live in sustainable world.

 BLOG  for WAVE 2014

The day before: 29th of May

Jasna and Andrej before leaving to join WAVE an Stuttgart.

On the car train

We started our day at Feldkirch and drove on German highway to Ulm where some of the WAVE participants stopped to show their cars to public. Our host was the mayor of Ulm. In the afternoon the road took us to Bietingheim for our veryfirst WAVE briefing.

This year’s  wave of WAVE is much bigger: total of 75 teams and even big names (VW, Renault, Mitsubishi,…) responded by sending 14 teams. As always, timing is important and being “on time” has a Swiss and not Slovenian meaning 🙂

Today we set the NEW GUINESS WORLD RECORD. We all gathered at Mercedes Benz museum and then made a tour around the streets to fulfill the record demands In total there were 493 pure electric vehicles driving one after another. A great step into the future for one hour! There were many different cars: prototypes, series cars, oldtimers and converted cars. We were the only Slovenian car, but seems that we have the highest electric range of all cars driving in Europe. After setting a new record we formed a big heart with sign Electric car world record Stuttgart 2014 visible from the sky.

Next was Heilbronn where our cars were put on display once more.

After we left towards east and got a warm welcome and dinner at bio farm in Wolpertshausen.

Watch video of day 2 HERE.

We left in the morning and from now on range will be measured by simple rule: less charging more points. That means no charging at all for the next two days 🙂 We finished the day at Munchen university after passing many charging points during the day. Tomorrow only 3 cars will continue to fight for the highest range: two Teslas and Metron 7.

On our way we had a long stop at Neuburg where hundreds of people gathered to see our electric caravan.

Today we started at Munchen technical university and headed south towards the alps. First stop was after 130 km close to Neue Schwanstein, then we had to go over Oberjoch pass and end in a village Obrschwandorf close to Obersdorf where again we recieved a warm welcome. Range competition ended here and all cars reaching this point got the maximum points and were declared winners. Actually there were only 3 teams who did it – our team, Tesla Roadster and Tesla S. Both Teslas used almost all the electrons in the battery – one even ended with 0 range, but they both made it what is especially big achievement for the Roadster having a third less batteriess then Tesla S or Metron 7. Metron 7 still has 40 % of the battery power left, so we decided not to charge till tomorrow night. Till now we made 430 km , one mountain pass and some highway, tomorrow we intend to do one more pass and 130 km. If everything is as we predict, we should end with still having some 15% left.

You can wath the video of the day 4 HERE.

We ended driving without charging after almost 600 km over 2 mountain passes and there is still about 10-15% of the energy left. As we did not drive very economically, 700 km range is real when driving more carefully.

We stopped at Zeppelin factory at lake Konstance and it was a very interesting experience. We should put some helium in our cars to make them lighter 🙂

One great moment was being on a ferry full of electric cars. If the ferry had been electric as well, the dream  of sustainable propulsion would be perfect. We spent the evening at island Mainau where Chris Paine showed us his movie “Revenge of electric car”.  Besides the movie we also enjoyed his presentation and saw what was and is happening in California.

You can watch the video of day 5 HERE.

We slept at Constanz and continued to Rheinfelden where we showed our cars to children at schools. Each car had 60 second for presentation while children were the  judges. Metron 7 does not have a shape to attract children, but it can speak a bit and it amused children a lot.

Way from Einsedeln over Furka pass (2500 m) to Saas Fee was the ultimater challenge for electric cars. Metron 7 did not need charging during the day, it only consumed a bit less then 50% of its cpacity for the whole trip. Letrika specialists made a good motor as it was never warmer then 65 degrees.

On friday morning we presented our cars to school children in Saas Fee. After we continued to Sion where the mayor, who drives electric car for past 20 years, greeted us.

From Sion we continued to Le Bouveret at the coast of Leman lake. In Murten we made an EV parade through the old city centre and then had our “last supper”and briefing  at Loevenberg  restaurant.

We departed from Murten quite early as we had to be in Interlaken at 10.00. Nice guided walking tour (not Ev powered, but still sustainable depending on what we were eating last 24 hours:) ) lead us through the old town. Our final destination is Rigi with a hard uphill  high up in the mountains and there we had our final meeting and awards ceremony. Steep road and heat resulted in 6 broken down vehicles during last day.

Winning the range competition. Best cars (Tesla) ran out of power 140 km before we did.

 

We left Switzerland the same way as we arrived: driving to feldkirch in Austria and there taking a night train to Villach. From Villach it is only 70 km to our home.

Charging in Ulm

There is no substitute  for energy. The whole edifice of modern society is built upon it. It is not “just another commodity” but the precondition of all commodities, a basic factor equal with air, water and earth.

— E. F. Schumacher (1973)

Sponsoring METRON team at WAVE 2014: