World’s largest EV rally underway

More than 160 teams have taken to Switzerland’s roads for the world’s largest electric vehicle rally from June 8-16.

The eighth World Advanced Vehicle Expedition (WAVE) Trophy rally crosses mountains and takes in more than 50 towns.

This year EV enthusiasts do two rallies, the second in Austria from September 21-29.

Entrants must drive electric or electrified vehicles. If they have a gas tank, it needs to be sealed and empty, Green Car Reports says.

The cars must have a 60km range, but those with short range may be stopping to charge often since the group will drive at least 209km daily.

Even home-made EVs, electric motorcycles and electric bikes are allowed, the latter taking a different route.

A trend this year was to put modern battery packs in classic microcars to give them more than 320km range. For instance, a 1960s BMW Isetta runs on a recycled Tesla battery pack with 386km of range.

A crowd-funded electric Crowdcar is included, home built from a lightweight chassis, and can do nearly 100km on a single charge.

Siemens has a converted 1979 Volkswagen Microbus Westfalia camper on the rally. It has a 46kWh lithium-ion battery providing about 193km range.