You can drive across Africa in a Trabant, a Pioneer, any off-road vehicle and, of course, an electric car. The Dutch couple embarked on an adventure that includes a Škoda Enyaq 4×4, loads of solar panels, baked-on sockets and malaria.
Maarten van Pel and Renske Cox set out on a journey from the Netherlands to Cape Town (JAR) in November 2022, they want to return along the east coast of the continent. They are currently traveling through the north of Angola, with at least another year of travel ahead of them, and around 23,000 kilometers out of a total of around 40,000.
Purely electric
The couple is not completely inexperienced in electric travel, they have, among other things, traveled around Europe in a Tesla, which ended in Norway, but the African expedition involved much more preparation. The choice fell on the four-wheel variant of the Enyaqu iV 80 from 2021 with a battery with a capacity of 77 kWh and a stated WLTP range of 537 km. There were only a minimum of modifications to the car, the biggest being the installation of higher shock absorbers for better clearance.
Energy management is much more interesting. The goal is to maximize self-sufficient energy operation and ideally get more than 50% of energy from the sun. Recharging from ordinary sockets cannot be avoided – even in Africa there can be weather that is not conducive to solar charging.
So far, however, only around 30% of the energy consumed has reached Enyaq from the socket. So far, the longest section driven purely on solar energy was 1,300 km from the city of Dachla on the Atlantic coast of Western Sahara to Dakar in Senegal. During this trip, they obtained and consumed 227 kWh from the sun.
The road to the south of Africa leads along the Atlantic coast, while back to the Netherlands, on the other hand, the pair will move through the eastern part
Most of the charging is provided by a giant set of solar panels that the pair carry with them. These can be unfolded, connected and positioned in 15 minutes. Enyaqu’s storage space holds 60 flexible panels, made by Austrian company DAS Energy, each with a peak power of 180 Wp, so the system’s theoretical maximum is a solid 10.8 kWp. Exceeding the 10 kWp limit was the goal when choosing solar panels.
Flexible panels, which have about a quarter less power per area than conventional roof panels, were the only option. They are lighter and above all about 80% thinner. This is the only reason why the car can fit such a large amount of charging power.
In real operation, the power of 10 kW cannot be reached, and the expeditionary Enyaq is therefore charged with a maximum power of around 8 kW. Paradoxically, one of the main obstacles is the African sun and high temperatures. Unlike rooftop photovoltaics, flexible panels placed on the ground suffer from even higher temperatures, reducing efficiency.
Punk charging
If the Enyaq is powered by solar panels, the only intermediate element is the MPPT controller, which takes care of optimizing the charging parameters to maximize performance in specific conditions. However, since it is a non-standard solution, the pair could not go on the expedition with a normal commercial solution and built their own device in cooperation with the Dutch company Venema.
Although it does not work perfectly and fully automatically, the main advantage is minimal losses during charging. It should be about 3% of the energy that is lost on the way from the panels to the battery. This is a significantly more efficient charging than in the case of a regular socket, where additional losses are the responsibility of the converter.
This is also how a solar charger for traveling can look like – two strings of 30 panels, each with a power of 180 Wp, make up less than 11 kWp of power. Flexible adhesive panels on the hood and roof of the Enyaq then take care of an additional 500 W for charging electronics or the refrigerator
Even charging from a socket does not have to take place in Africa in a completely normal way, i.e. by simply inserting the plug into the socket. While here we are used to sockets rated for a current of 16 A, 10 A can be deadly for the plastic covers of African sockets.
This leaves two options – either disassemble the socket and connect the wires directly using clamps, or even better, stretch the cable directly into the switchboard. It is then possible to set a higher current on the charger than the 10 A safe for sockets. To charge the expedition Enyaq, the pair uses the adjustable Besen BS-PCD050 model.
When the socket fails and the plastic melts at currents above 10A, good old fashioned chocolate and direct connection come into play. But the best option is three-phase charging from the switchboard
50 km/h
The traveling speed is only around 50 km/h. The reason is not only the poor quality of African roads, but also the optimization of traffic to reduce consumption. While the official parameters of the Enyaqu iV 80 indicate a consumption of 15.2-21.6 kWh/100 km, during the expedition it reaches values of around 14 kWh/100 km thanks to the speed in the most efficient band. The main reason is not the efficiency of the engine, but less aerodynamic resistance, which rises significantly at higher speeds.
The complete charging set can be disassembled and reassembled in about 15 minutes
The end of the electric road across Africa is not in sight for now – not only because of the low travel speed, but also because of malaria, which is mentioned in the latest posts on social networks.
You can watch the pair on Instagram, Youtube whether Twitter and no less interesting is shipping websitewhere data from the journey is sent, including the position or charge level of the car.
2023-05-08 10:45:15
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