Five teams of electric vehicles set off on a 1,200 mile, zero emissions race around Scotland today.
Launched to coincide with COP26, the Electric Vehicle Rally of Scotland (EVROS) will see at least 16 EVs complete a five-day tour of Scotland.
The five EVROS teams set off from Glasgow on Monday November 8, with Nicolas Hamilton (brother of F1 World Champion Lewis) at the start line to wave them off.
I’ll be driving the final three days of the event, at the controls of a Polestar 2, with my long-suffering partner Eilidh Moir along as co-pilot and navigator.
Together we’ll be tackling just over 750 miles of Scotland’s most glorious scenery over the course of three fun filled and action packed days.
We’ll start in Fort William and head north, visting Skye before heading up to Ullapool, Thurso and John O’Groats. Then we’ll set off down the east coast, visiting Inverness, Aberdeen and my home city of Dundee before heading west to complete the rally at the COP26 host city of Glasgow.
Electric future
The purpose of the EVROS is to show electric cars can be used for long, epic journeys with just a little bit of planning. Despite having been a motoring journalist for 15 years I’ve never done anything quite like this before. I’m excited to find out if it will all be plain sailing or if there will be some charging disasters along the way.
Fortunately for me, I’ll be driving one of the EVs best placed to finish first in this electric, tartan version of the Cannonball Run. Polestar is owned by Volvo and they make some of the best electric cars on the market. With an official range of 290 miles on a full battery I’ll be able to get further on a single car than many of the other drivers.
My journey will begin in Fort William on Wednesday morning and all being well I should arrive in Glasgow on Friday afternoon. I’ll be keeping readers abreast of my progress – or lack of it – each day, so watch this space for updates.
