00:00 [Music plays]
00:10 The team that prepared this impressive rig are hoping to circumnavigate the Australian continent
00:15 as not so much grey but green nomads.
00:18 But they aren't a group of postgraduate technology students
00:21 or a crack team of EV pioneers sponsored by a green start-up.
00:26 They're the McClellans from Bassendean in Perth.
00:30 Essentially we wanted to get the family to experience the classic lap of Australia
00:35 but we thought we've electrified everything at home,
00:38 can we do it as an electrified trip around Australia as well?
00:41 We wanted to prove that it is possible and start the ball rolling.
00:45 The couple and their children plan to exchange the eco-friendly house they built themselves
00:51 for an equally green mobile home.
00:55 All appliances have been converted to run on solar power
00:58 and once they source a tow ball the caravan will be pulled by one of the largest EVs available in Australia.
01:04 Aerodynamics is one of the biggest killers for EV range
01:07 so we've done some aerodynamic mods to the van
01:10 which has had the extra bonus of adding more solar panels to the roof.
01:16 How many litres of fossil fuel do you expect to burn during this trip?
01:20 Zero.
01:22 The plan is to set off in March, a few months before the scheduled completion of Synergy and Horizon Power's EV highway
01:29 which will provide charging stations from Kununurra in WA's far north to air on the South Australian border.
01:36 Our electric vehicle charging stations are just the start.
01:39 They're intended to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles
01:42 and show other manufacturers and providers of electric vehicle charging networks
01:47 that it's okay to be able to do this and it's possible.
01:51 The Australian EV Association says the charges themselves are user friendly
01:56 and don't require a special mobile phone app.
01:59 Having charges every 200 kilometres or thereabouts
02:02 means every single EV available on the market today can do that trip
02:08 and any EV that can tow is capable of doing that trip as well.
02:13 Synergy is hoping that means more Australians will become confident about switching to EVs for big road trips.
02:19 I think we've turned the corner of EV uptake in this country.
02:23 The uptake now is incredibly quick.
02:26 It was only less than a year ago that we only had about 10,000 electric vehicles in the state
02:31 and that's nearly double that already and it's only a year later.
02:35 For the McClellans, part of the excitement is pioneering the fossil fuel free Round Australia trip.
02:41 This is not a matter of racing around Australia.
02:44 We want it to be the same as we do six months ago.
02:48 But ideally, if we haven't used any fossil fuels, that's success to me.
02:55 But it's also about guilt free, long distance touring and time together as a family.
03:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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