In March 2015 I took delivery of a much-anticipated Tesla Model S, a 100% fully electric vehicle (EV). A couple of road trips later it became apparent that these cars were far more capable than people had ever appreciated. Conversations with friends and colleagues highlighted a strongly held perception that electric cars were totally unsuitable for long distance travel and my suggesting otherwise did little to change their views.
I wondered, what
if the Tesla could take on a
challenge that pushed way past the limitations ingrained in public opinion?
Would that help to provide some perspective on range anxiety?
On pondering
this thought my mind alighted upon the
National Three Peaks Challenge,
an event where participants tackle the three highest mountains in the UK. These
being, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales, all of which are
ascended and descended within 24 hours inclusive of the travel time between
each mountain. By using the Model S
as transport and not forgetting to include time for charging, we would surely
go beyond the capability of an electric car. Being an already popular challenge,
it presented the perfect opportunity to showcase what an EV was really capable
of achieving, by combining long distance travel within very limited time
constraints.
And so the event
Three Peaks Zero was born, the zero alluding to zero tailpipe
emissions, which contaminate our environment with harmful pollutants. Along
with our goal to promote sustainable transport we also wanted to raise money
for some worthy charities, these being, Save
the Children, and the MS Society.
After a concerted burst of planning, training and fundraising we were at last
ready to put our aspirations to the test. Early in the morning on a dull
autumnal Friday, three eager teams set off for Fort William in Scotland to
position themselves for a challenge, on 15th October 2016, which had
NEVER been previously attempted.
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| Filling up at a Supercharger |
On our journey from London to Scotland the teams met up at various Superchargers, a network of rapid electric filling stations installed by Tesla to facilitate long distance travel. Whilst the cars were being charged up we amused ourselves by creating appropriate team names, something that represented the challenge we would undertake. The first team was ordained Peak Voltage. My own team was bestowed Around the Ben (Nevis). The final team, who were of a more elderly persuasion, delighted in their designated name Over the Hill.
Having arrived
at Fort William on Friday evening, we were 143 miles away from our last Supercharger so all vehicles required a
top up before embarking on our quest at the crack of dawn the following
morning. This would be the first time that any of us would be using a third
party charging network.
The auto industry is sadly guilty of a lack of joined-up thinking. As
a result, the motorist who wishes to use an alternative charging network is
subjected to a bewildering range of connection choices. Fort William station was no
different and after a struggle with the various adaptors and mobile apps we
managed to start the charger. As the industry develops it is hoped that the
various protagonists will learn to cooperate with each other for the benefit of
the consumer, by creating a more user friendly system.
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| Team Peak Voltage filling up at Glencoe Mountain Resort |
Having fed and bedded down our electric steeds for the night we then sought to recharge our own batteries by launching into a carb fest at the local Italian restaurant.
Man Flu had
prevented me from getting a decent night’s sleep and I was already half awake
when the alarm hit 5 am. My diet for the next 24 hours would consist
almost exclusively of energy bars and Day
Nurse. I popped my first two pills in an attempt to Man Up. Once all the
teams were assembled outside we drove in convoy to the start point of
the climb. After a little drama with the parking we set off in high spirits at
06:05. It was still dark, so we were all sporting head torches. The mountain
was dotted with dancing lights as other groups ahead of us made their way
to the top.
As we started
the challenge I cast my mind back to my previous Three Peaks attempt and remembered that very early on I had
suffered from debilitating cramp in my legs. This was a result of a
combination of lack of fitness, dehydration and an overzealous initial pace. This
time I was well stocked up on isotonic drinks, armed with the knowledge
not to rush and had squeezed in a bit of training prior to the event.
My teammates
Alex and Hector, parkour instructors, on loan from Parkour Generations, had been hand-picked for their fitness and it wasn’t
long before we started to pull ahead of the other teams. However, after a couple
of hours into the Ben Nevis ascent it
became apparent to all of us that the mountain demanded a different type of
fitness and we found ourselves stopping all too frequently. I had calculated a
maximum time that we could afford to spend on each ascent/descent and our allowance
for Ben Nevis was running out. The
sun had risen at this point and had uncovered some breath-taking views but
also, much to our alarm, revealed that the elderly Over the Hill team were closing the gap
on us with Peak Voltage not far
behind. This gave us a renewed sense of urgency and we only just managed to
retain our lead to the top of the mountain. In the end all three teams reached
the summit within 10 minutes of each other.
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| The view near the top of Ben Nevis |
Parkour, crudely
known by many as the art of jumping off buildings, granted us a unique set of
skills to move quickly and precisely from rock to rock on the way down. I
had been relying upon this to give us an edge on the descents. Like mountain
goats we swiftly scrambled past other groups, rapidly reaching the bottom. Alas
however, the mountain had taken its toll, our muscles had seized up and agonizing
cramps ensued.
Collapsing into
the car we embarked on our first driving stint of the challenge. The journey
south through Scotland involved the longest stretch of
single carriageway of the whole trip. This was problematic due to traffic
that had slowed to enjoy the sensational landscape, a pleasure in which we
could not indulge. Whilst the instant torque and acceleration, afforded by Tesla’s powerful electric motor, meant
easy overtaking when the opportunity arose, gratuitous use of the throttle was
not conducive to long distance driving. As a result, we had
to apply a little finesse to our driving strategy and maximize
regenerative braking, a feature that enables EVs to recharge as they slow down, to prevent running out of juice before our first charging stop.
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| The drive through Scotland |
We were making
decent progress. However, as we passed Glasgow the Tesla Satnav, its
destination set to Gretna Green Supercharger,
warned that we would have 0% battery upon arrival. This wasn’t critical as
we had the option to stop at the closer Supercharger
in Abington. We debated testing the limits of the battery, in order to save
valuable time in stopping twice, but thought better of it.
Still in
Scotland we arrived at Gretna where our plan was to fill up to 100%. Our next Supercharger was not until Warrington near the border of Wales, plus our route involved circumnavigating the Lake
District so it made sense to maximize our range. However, as the battery grew
increasingly full the rate of charge began to drop dramatically and a strategic
call needed to be made. Do we lose precious time waiting for the charger
to add extra miles that we might need to cushion any unforeseen losses in
range, or do we hit the road and try to deal with any issues as they arise?
We decided on the latter and high tailed it to the National Trust Campsite in Wasdale Head, at the foot of Scafell Pike.
Reaching Scafell we bailed out of the car and our
trusty chauffeur Megan sorted out the parking in a prearranged spot for
motorhomes with charging. Whilst the rate of charge was slow, it was more than welcome
as we needed all the juice we could get.
Although we were
on schedule, our team was worse for wear. Our pace was slow as we took breaks
that were long and frequent. Our legs were not functioning as they should, having received a battering on Ben
Nevis. In addition, the urgency of our situation had escalated as we had
learnt that both the other teams were far behind.
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| The view near the bottom of Scafell Pike |
It became obvious
that Around The Ben was the only team
left with any hope of proving that an EV can take on The Three Peaks Challenge.
As the minutes ticked by the gravity of our situation became more acute. If we
failed in our task we would be doing sustainable transport a disservice
by confirming people's negative suspicions about EVs. It was
imperative that we succeed. Hector, encumbered by the weight of his rucksack,
dumped it behind a rock and we pressed on, opting to take the faster and steeper,
but significantly harder to navigate route to the summit.
By the time we
reached the top it was pitch black, the wind was blowing hard and it was
bitterly cold. A thick blanket of cloud had formed making it impossible to see.
Our torches amplified the problem as the light reflected off the fog. We
decided to take the longer route down as it was just too risky to try
to find our way via the route we had ascended. We made good progress, only
stopping once to retrieve the rucksack. As we approached the bottom we were
confused as to why we had not crossed paths with the other two teams. However,
when looking back at the mountain we saw a procession of torches winding their
way on a separate path. It later transpired that they had missed a turning
in the dark.
Two peaks down and
one to go, we leapt back into the Tesla with renewed optimism and set off to
our next stop, Warrington Supercharger.
We were still on schedule, but the car informed us that we would only have 6%
charge remaining by the time we reached our destination. This was much
less of a buffer than I would have liked, since mountain roads tend to
chew away more energy per mile. By the time we’d escaped the
Lake District and dealt with the inconvenient closure of a sizable chunk of the
M6, our battery gauge alarmingly revealed that we would be down to -2% on
arrival at Warrington! Our hearts sank, thinking we wouldn’t be able to make it
as there was no interim Supercharger
to fall back on.
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| Hardknott Pass, Lake District - Englands steepest road |
We had come too
far to fail with our goal so tantalizingly close to our grasp. We
scrambled for a plan and were left with two options. ZapMap had identified a number of other fast charge points that we
could stop at en-route and give ourselves a boost. Alternatively, we could
chance our luck and try to claw back some range whilst going direct to the
Warrington Supercharger. The former
was the obvious choice but given our experience with third party
chargers at Fort William, I was uncomfortable about the potential time we would
squander in the faff to get the charge point to work. So in the spirit of adventure
we opted to run the risk of being stranded and headed straight
for Warrington.
At motorway
speeds, air resistance plays an increasing role on the energy used to move a
car. The faster you go the greater the penalty. Simply dropping the speed to 60mph
would save us some precious electrons and happily also meant we would be going slowly
enough to slip stream some of the bigger fish on the road. After a short stint
behind a lorry we'd recovered a few miles of range and our
battery was reporting it would be at 4% upon arrival. Once again, the game
was afoot!
In comparison to
the trickle charge we received at Scafell, Warrington Supercharger was like unleashing a fire hydrant, pumping in 350
miles of range per hour. With only 90 odd miles to Snowdon it wasn’t long before we had enough charge to be on our
way.
20 hours into our
ordeal our trusty Tesla delivered us to our final destination. Its job was done
and the rest was now up to us. With a
distinctive sense of déjà vu we once again bailed out leaving Megan to hook the
car up to the grid.
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| View from Snowdon on a clear day (Image courtesy of Bert Kaufmann) |
Only 4 hours
remained to complete the challenge and although this should be sufficient we
could ill afford to squander time in case of any unforeseen hazards. With this
in mind and despite our exhaustion we set off at a brisk pace and resolved to
keep rests to a minimum.
Unfortunately, the
elements conspired to retard our progress as fog set in and the darkness
hindered our navigation. We had opted to take the Pyg Track, which on the whole is a very wide clear mountain path
but intermittently disappears into the rock face, thus abruptly halting our
passage and costing us valuable time as we tried to negotiate the route.
As we neared the
top we grew increasingly cold and fatigued. The route seemed never ending and
due to the lack of visibility we were unable to take encouragement by being
able to lock on to our final destination. We knew that each step took us closer
to the top but whether it would be 20 steps or 200, we had no idea. This
was definitely the most psychologically trying part of the challenge
and we all just wanted it to end.
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| Team Around the Ben at the Peak of Snowdon |
With that, Alex
and I summoned our last drops of strength and ran. Stumbling from
rock to rock, it was all we could do to stop our thighs from collapsing at
every stride. Once again the path was deceptively long and I had amassed a collection
of blisters on my feet that would occasionally get pinched when landing
on jagged rocks.
23 hours &
25 minutes after our mission had begun, we hobbled into the car park with 35
minutes to spare. Our elation was short lived since we were wet, cold, exhausted
and hungry. It was pitch black and at 05:30 in the morning nothing was open. We
piled into the car for shelter from the wind and rain to await the other teams.
Thirty minutes later someone knocked on the window. It was Hector, amazingly he
had managed to get himself down in the nick of time to complete the challenge
within 24 hours.
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| Team Over the Hill flying the GKL flag atop Snowdon |
Conclusion
Our adventure
proved that despite the electric revolution being in its infancy, EVs are
already capable of tackling the toughest of challenges. Undoubtedly we were
confronted with hurdles unique to an EV, but with charge points growing
exponentially these problems are rapidly disappearing. The salient point is, if
an EV can already take on an extreme challenge like the Three Peaks surely it’s qualified to handle the family holiday to
Cornwall or the business trip to Liverpool. In short, if Climate Change concerns you then your switch to sustainable
transport shouldn’t be hampered by range anxiety.
Some
interesting figures:
- 11,178 ft. climbed across the three mountains
- 3,672 emission free miles driven collectively across all three vehicles
- £538 - the fuel cost to drive this distance in a typical car
- £0 - the fuel cost our teams paid to drive this distance
- 1.836 tons of CO2 saved vs driving a typical car
Acknowledgments:
- Mike Coulton who helped with event promotion, organisation and lead team Peak Voltage with teammates Andy and Chris (Model S P85+)
- Richard Kenning from GK Leasing for promoting and fielding team Over The Hill with teammates James, John and Peter (Model S 90D)
- My own teammates Alex, Hector and chauffeur Megan (Model S 85)
- To all who generously donated and helped to promote the event
- To family and friends for their support and assistance
- The National Trust Campsite at Wasdale Head for accommodating our charging needs whilst climbing Scafell
- Peter from Snowdonia National Park Authority, who demonstrated enormous support and enthusiasm by trekking out in the early hours of Sunday morning to facilitate our charging at Snowdon.
Moving forward
we would like to turn this into an annual event open to all makes of EVs. With
more teams participating in the event we will be able to boost confidence in
those looking at investing in an EV. For those interested in being involved
with the next Three Peaks Zero challenge, please
get in touch via Facebook or Twitter. Donations for the current event will close on 01 December 16.
Finally, I’d
like to dedicate the success of this event to Buffy, the most wonderful sister
I could have asked for. You will always be missed.
