If any SUV were to travel 17k miles crossing three continents, it must be one of those brutal off-roading champs with a daring combustible engine, right? You don’t want to get stranded with a drained battery in no man’s land, so an EV is a no-no, right?
That point of view expired in December 2023 when adventurous couple Chris and Julie Ramsey completed their record-breaking expedition from the North to the South Pole in a, wait for it, 200-mile range (after modification) Nissan Ariya. You read that right! They traveled from the frozen Arctic Ocean to Antarctica over ten months.
What might be more surprising is that the Ariya didn’t need many modifications to indulge the ambitious couple. It only needed a set of 39-inch tires to suit the challenging conditions and modifications for things like a roof-mounted drone, a towable prototype trailer for wind turbines and solar panels, etc. One would have expected serious performance-enhancing mods, but that particular Nissan Ariya wore mods that mostly reduced its range.
Describing the minimal modifications, the couple stressed that,
“One of the things that underpins all the adventures we do is that we take a standard production EV and aim to make minimal changes to clearly demonstrate its real, everyday capabilities, regardless of where you are driving it. Our Nissan Ariya is no different as the vehicle’s drivetrain and battery has remained factory standard, demonstrating just how capable and versatile the production Ariya is. We’ve modified the suspension and widened the wheel arches so we can benefit from the stable platform and support of the 39-inch BF Goodrich tyres.”
This adventure was not the first time they’d be breaking records. In 2017, they became the first set of people to complete the Mongol Rally in an all-electric vehicle, going nearly 10k miles in a Nissan Leaf.
According to Nissan, the 2023 Nissan Ariya offers up to 304 miles of range per change. Equipped with off-road tires, roof rack and tent, fenders (all mods that cut range), and driven in some of the world’s coldest regions, how could such an EV go from pole to pole?
Well, that’s the whole point of Chris and Julie’s adventure. They wanted to quash all the myths suggesting combustible engines are more suitable for long traveling than EVs. Especially because EVs can charge from multiple energy sources while combustibles have one option.
The couple planned to charge their EVs in polar regions with a windmill, although that didn’t work out on Arctic roads. They used solar panels to charge the EV at night in the Antarctic portion. This was well-thought-out since the polar region is almost always in sunlight around that period of the year. They also had generators to keep things going when the weather wasn’t favorable.
After the expedition, the couple explained that:
Six years ago the idea and dream behind this expedition with purpose was born. Many thought it was crazy. Today that dream has come true. Trust your crazy idea, we are testament that dreams can come true if you work hard enough and to never give up.
We hope to have inspired and educated many of you on the truths of electric mobility and debunked the common myths out there still surrounding EV’s. EV’s are capable, they are fun and exciting to drive, they are reliable and resilient and more importantly kinder to our planet. Thank you again to everyone who has supported us. We could not of done this alone. Team work from so many of you has made this a success. Never be afraid to push the boundaries.
Gabriel Olakunori
Gabriel likes to argue (blindly) that SUVs are a part of nature, but he seems to have a point whenever you walk in the snow, through the bone-dry desert, splendid park-like boulevard, plains, and rocky roads. He has over five years of experience writing across a broad spectrum of topics, with quite a number in the automotive industry. If he is not at the desk w̶r̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ having fun, he is at the wheel d̶r̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ having fun. Both activities take him to the same destination: Utopia. He loves SUVs simply because they are all-inclusive, but he cannot turn down an offer to drive or write about any vehicle.
