Dutchman drives an Electric Car Across the World
Wiebe Wakker is travelling across the world—specifically from the Netherlands to Australia—with no money, and in an electric car, specifical...

Here he is in Penang where he is engulfed in, no, not polluted air, but incense smoke.
![]() |
image credit: Wakker via Eco-Business |
Yet, somehow, he has driven over 50,000 kilometres since March 2016, to arrive at Malaysia recently. The people he has encountered, in the 28 countries he has driven through, have been helpful, partially because they were curious about his electric car. In Tehran, where social media is greatly limited (blocked, to be exact) but is the channel that Wakker uses to find help, he met car bloggers who got to see an electric car for the first time, and he received more offers of accommodation than he could accept. Driving from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, when he ended up in a small town where the folks didn’t really speak English, he somehow managed to find his way to a police station where they allowed him to charge his car.
The journey so far.
Norway, he says, was heaven, where charging stations were ubiquitous. It was vastly different in Brussels (Belgium), where he found only one. In Malaysia, he found most charging stations in the capital city and while living here with a host who lived in an apartment building, had to make use of the extension cables to charge his car.
When he was in oil-rich UAE, he was surprised at the efforts and investments in the infrastructure to support electric transport. Electric car owners are entitled to free parking, charging and toll fee exemptions. The UAE government is certainly making an effort to future-proof its transportation system and, the larger picture, its economy, knowing that it will run out of oil in a couple of decades.
Read also: Dubai turns Tesla X into a Taxi and Dubai Police goes Green.
If there is proof that range anxiety is mostly in our heads, then Wakker is it. He doesn’t believe in it, but instead feels “range excitement”. "In the morning, I start driving, and I wait until I have 10 per cent battery left and then I have to make a plan," he told Eco-Business. "That’s when I feel range excitement." Well, that’s optimistic. Good on him.
Wakker is currently in Singapore to promote his cause, but without his electric steed because there is no official charging station in the country, so he is not allowed to drive his car there. And the vehicle entry permit is much more than he can afford. What? Malaysia is more advanced than our neighbour when it comes to electric vehicle infrastructure and support? Well, that’s Malaysia-1 and Singapore…er…most everything else. (When it comes to transportation, we throw in our tuala and hand them the crown…but our food is still better.)
Our final and succinct thoughts on the electric vehicle as a sustainable mode of transportation: until the source of electricity is itself sustainable (dirty, polluting COAL is still the main source of electricity generation) and the manufacturing of battery doesn't require the mining and use of rare earth minerals, the electric vehicle is not quite a sustainable option. That said, Wakker's effort to promote and encourage sustainability is interesting, to say the least. After this, he will continue with the last leg of his journey to Australia. To follow his adventure, go to Plug Me In.
My mobile phone charger was damaged and was not working so I needed a new one urgently. I went to mobile phone accessory shops to buy one since they had the best quality products and in reasonable price too.
ReplyDelete