Plug Me In Netherlands to Australia by electric car

This is my story.

About Me

My name is Wiebe Wakker and I drove from the Netherlands to Australia in an electric car. That took me overs 3 years and I did that basically without any money.

On the 15th of March 2016, I started with my mission to reach Sydney, on the other side of the world, in an electric car I borrowed called the Blue Bandit. To get there I asked people to “Plug Me In” with a meal, place to sleep or electricity for the car.

Over 1,800 people from 45 countries offered help. All the offers determined the route and I was sent crisscross around the globe, passing 33 countries and driving over 95,000km on electricity.

See route & all offers

Educate

I used my trip as an exploration, discovering what sustainability is about. I visited dozens of sustainable initiatives and interviewed them about the environmental challenges in the countries I visited or they showed what solutions are available to tackle the climate problem. All the interviews can be viewed on the blog.

During the trip I gave dozens of talks at universities, schools, companies, embassies and NGO’s to share why we need to switch to sustainable forms of mobility.

Read Blog

Inspire

By setting an ambitious goal which speaks to the imagination: driving to the other side of the world on electricity, I wanted to prove that Electric Vehicles are a viable way of transport and inspire people to start driving electric.

My journey was full of adventures. I crossed the Iranian desert, was invited by sheikhs in the Emirates, had massive problems with my car in India and had so many interesting encounters with people everywhere I came.

I have documented my whole trip on video and you can still see those on this website.

See videos

Accelerate

With my mission, I aimed to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future. I engaged with ministers, sheikhs, mayors, ambassadors, companies and even a royal family who wanted to meet me because they were interested in my message.
My message was featured in over 2,000 online articles, 150 radio interviews, hundreds of newspaper articles and 50 TV appearances including CNN, BBC, The Guardian, National Geographic, Buzzfeed, Top Gear and many more.

See all media

Finish

On the 7th of April 2019, I finally reached Sydney and achieved my goal. It took 1,119 days, 33 countries and 95,000km to get there and it became the longest journey in an Electric Vehicle, ever.
Over 350 people hosted me and I got help from many other people, companies and organizations. The finish became global news and was featured on TV channels in over 40 countries.

After the Sydney finish, I was asked to come to New Zealand and on the 19th of July, I finished in Bluff, the most southern tip of NZ.

Now I've returned home I give talks about my adventure and learnings.

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Presentations

Now I returned home I transformed into what they call an "inspiring speaker."
With a lot of humor I share my story to companies and events. I use my adventure and lessons as a metaphor to talk about perseverance, (global) collaboration and sustainability.

See all my topics or request more info.

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