Mission Africa was an adventure designed to show the capabilities of an electrified Citroën Berlingo van (about the size of a Ford Transit Express). The trip was sponsored by Venturi, the company that converts the Berlingo to electric drive, and by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.
The team traveled without support from Nairobi to Johannesberg, 3600 miles in 38 days of driving. About 400 miles of the trip was on rough tracks. Xavier Chevrin drove the van, and Vivien Flores was the photographer/videographer for the trip. Chevrin was the team leader for another electric powered adventure, an 8300 mile drive from Beijing to Paris in a similar vehicle.
Recharging the vehicle's batteries was the most difficult challenge of the trip. The gift of an expedition T-shirt was used more than once to convince people to help the team find an outlet. The T-shirts also proved valuable at a difficult border crossing.
The English language version of the Mission Africa web site is http://english.missionafrica.fr/ The site has details of the vehicle preparation, route taken, and a blog of the events of the trip.
Here's a 4 minute video produced by the team
Venturi has a Youtube page where you can view videoblogs by the trip participants.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Venturiautomobiles
The team traveled without support from Nairobi to Johannesberg, 3600 miles in 38 days of driving. About 400 miles of the trip was on rough tracks. Xavier Chevrin drove the van, and Vivien Flores was the photographer/videographer for the trip. Chevrin was the team leader for another electric powered adventure, an 8300 mile drive from Beijing to Paris in a similar vehicle.
Recharging the vehicle's batteries was the most difficult challenge of the trip. The gift of an expedition T-shirt was used more than once to convince people to help the team find an outlet. The T-shirts also proved valuable at a difficult border crossing.
The English language version of the Mission Africa web site is http://english.missionafrica.fr/ The site has details of the vehicle preparation, route taken, and a blog of the events of the trip.
Here's a 4 minute video produced by the team
Venturi has a Youtube page where you can view videoblogs by the trip participants.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Venturiautomobiles
