Electric Vehicle Challenge: Driving a Tesla around the world in 80 days [Gallery]

Could you drive 80 days around the world in a Tesla? That's the plan according to the folks at 80eDays* in which “El Duro” will mark their second event to showcase the future of electric cars. This follows their first electric vehicle challenge held back in 2012. The innovator behind 80eDays, Rafael de Mestre, organized the event in order to demonstrate that electric vehicles (EVs) can be a sustainable means of long distance travel. He wants to prove EVs can travel across any country through all types of terrain and climates.  

Above: One of the teams participating in 80eDays, Team Belarus (Source: 80eDays*)

The event just started on June 15th in Barcelona, Spain. And the goal of 80eDays is to have all participants drive their electric car around the world passing preset points in key cities in 80 days or less.  The teams will take photos of their electric cars at famous landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Golden Twin Towers in Kazakhstan, the Empire State Building in New York and the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. After this is completed, we'll have to wait a few years for the follow-up third 80eDays event in 2020. 

Source: 80eDays*

The 80eDays route covers harsh driving conditions on difficult roads in extremely hot weather.  These conditions combined with driving 25.000 km (15,500 miles) in 80 days will provide the teams with one of the most difficult tests for electric vehicle travel to date.  With the conditions along the way being highly unpredictable, each team will need to constantly reassess their route to plan for EV charging while obeying whatever traffic rules apply locally. After reviewing the teams participating, it appears that nearly all participants are driving an electric vehicle from Tesla Motors [NASDAQ: TSLA]. Most are driving in the Tesla Model S but a few participants are driving in the original Tesla Roadster. Scroll down below to check out a sampling of the 80eDays participants... 

Above (from top to bottom): Some of the teams participating in 80eDays including Team Austria, Team China, Team Czech Republic, Team Germany, Team Italy, Team Switzerland, and Team USA (Source: 80eDays*)

All 80eDays participants have set out to emphasize the importance of protecting the environment and providing a green future for generations to come. To that end, in order to help offset greenhouse gases produced from the event, the participants will plant trees along the route and will be taking water samples for future analysis and comparisons. The trees planted and charging locations used in the 2016 event will be visited later to verify the sustainability of these projects.  In addition, the water samples taken during the 2016 event will be compared with future samples in the upcoming 2020 event, providing insights into the progress being made in carbon reduction. 

Hats off to Rafael and all the 80eDays teams participating around the world to spread the word about driving electric.

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*Source: 80eDays