Day 3
I left my host Iris in Rotterdam and drove to RotterZwam. RotterZwam collects coffee loom locally in Rotterdam. The loom they put in sacks and add mushroom seeds to it. In a process of a few days Oyster mushrooms start to grow. These mushrooms have a meat-like structure and are sold to restaurants. In co-operation with a local bakery they even make bitterballen from it, which is a Dutch delicatesse. Founder Mark Slegers started this company after he worked for around 6 years in the green business. He saw what he was doing wasn’t enough and things have to change radically to make improvements towards a greener society. RotterZwam was founded 3 years ago. The location is as inspirational as the company itself, it houses at the Tropicana, a former swimming pool. This location had been abandoned for a few years and Mark together with some other people thought it was time for a new destination. The founded Blue City where numerus sustainable and social companies have their office.
https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/466928020182932/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/467260000149734/?type=3&theater
Mierlo
My pluggers this day where Theo and Iet in Mierlo, a tiny village in Brabant. From Rotterdam it was a 140km drive. My navigation system is set to ‘shortest route’ to avoid highways. Driving highways with an electric car effects the range negatively. Taken shorter routes means more time and it took me around 3 hours to get to Mierlo. Sometimes the navigation system sends you through tiny villages and forests. It happened that the system send me through a way which was closed off. I had to make a turnaround, it was no big deal but it could have happened that the destination was not within reach anymore. Which isn’t a bug problem in Holland with public chargers everywhere but in other countries this can be a problem.
Theo en Iet where very nice people. They are friends of the wife of my father and I had met them once before. They live in a big house with an even bigger garden. The roof is filled with solar panels. We had some talks about their dreams. Theo is retired and Iet is retiring in a few weeks. Then they want to travel the world. In December they are going to Australia. In a four wheel drive they are going to explore the Outback. Very inspirational! Iet showed off with her excellent cooking skills and I had my own private bathroom and toilet. It’s really great how the locations I stay are completely different from day to day.
https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.466370933571974.1073741835.211949022347501/467656190110115/?type=3&theater
Video Update
See my adventures of this day in the latest video-update.
DAY 2
A night with not much sleep, I worked till 3AM on my video. At 4AM Radio 1 called me for an update.
I said goodbye to Frank and his family and drove to Rotterdam. First stop was at the Better Future Factory, they use 3D printing for social and sustainable goals. They print prostheses for children and in Peru they make loom for locals. Later I went to Kromkommer. They collect vegetables with weird shapes which can’t be sold in supermarkets. From these vegetables they make soup. Their aim is not to make money but to stop existing after a while when all the weird vegetables are used again.
My plugger that day was Iris. I met her while I travelled through Australia in 2009. She invited me to come over at her apartment in the center of Rotterdam. She cooked a traditional Dutch dish and later she showed me the ‘De Witte Aap’ bar, according to the Lonely Planet this is the best bar in the world.
https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.466370933571974.1073741835.211949022347501/467059036836497/?type=3&theater
Check my video-update from this day:
Today was the day! I’ve been thinking about this day for 2 years now, and as always it’s never what you expect. In the morning a technician from Radio 1 came over. She set up a live-link with the studio from where the presenter interviewed me about my plans. You can re-listen the interview here (from the 18:15 mark).
After that I had to rush to Houten where to kick-off would start at 11am. I arrived at 10:45 and first we had to fix the car a bit. We removed the backseat for more space and gave the software an update (that’s one of the advantages of an electric car).
At 11 the first guest came in. I invited sponsors, friends, familie and people who where involved in the project the last months. I explained my plans for the coming months, thanked people for their help and said everyone goodbye, a weird moment. Then Ruben waved the flag and I set off for the long journey.
#plugmeinproject @WiebeWkkr has started. He is leaving today pic.twitter.com/F9WcEPqpxX
— Solar2Drive (@Solar2Drive) March 15, 2016
https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.357717747770627.1073741829.211949022347501/466155470260187/?type=3&theater
The first stop was at Frank’s place in Monster (Netherlands) in Westland. He invited me and left a message: “I got some avocado powder for you to take on your journey.” I got interested so he was the first one I wanted to visit. Frank was involved in numerous sustainable projects in the area. With a friend he builds a boat with a whale-like driven mechanism powered on solar energy.
https://www.facebook.com/PlugMeIn/photos/a.466370933571974.1073741835.211949022347501/466371020238632/?type=3&theater
Later he and his familie cooked for me and we talked a lot about his journey. He and his wife made a road and train trip from Holland to Australia. A very interesting journey especially because I’m going through a few countries where he has been so he shared a lot of information.
I feel good about this day. I was nervous during the kick-off and visiting the first pluggers was exciting as well. Looking forward to the coming days, weeks and months!
From 4pm you can check the first video-update on the YouTube channel.
Today I was invited by Roelof Hemmen, television and radio presenter, to talk about Plug Me In on BNR Newsradio. BNR is one of Holland’s biggest news radio stations.
Roelof talked to me about what my plans are, what I expect from the journey and the difficulties of the trip.
For me it was the first time live on the radio and it was a good experience. In the middle of the interview I got a bit nervous about everything that happened around me but that’s what this project is all about, falling and getting up again.
If you master Dutch you can listen to it here:
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On Valentine’s day, February the 14th I received the 100th offer of energy. A milestone. I didn’t expect it would happen this fast and I’m very happy with everyone who’s offered energy so far. At this moment (February 21) a staggering amount of 136 people already offered food, a place to sleep or energy for the car.
A breakdown off the energy I received.
ENERGY
Food: 110 offers
Places to sleep: 97 offers
Chargepoints: 115 offers
COUNTRIES & OFFERS
Netherlands: 34
Belgium: 7
France: 5
Italy: 10
Austria: 12
Switzerland: 3
Germany: 28
Denmark: 3
Sweden: 5
England: 1
Greece: 1
Iraq: 1
Hungary: 1
Romanya: 1
Slovakia: 1
Bulgaria: 1
Portugal: 1
Mongolia: 1
Spain: 1
Thailand: 2
Australia: 22
That’s 21 countries in total!
It’s a lot but I’m still looking for more spots. The car has a range of 200km so even in countries where already energy is offered I can use more place to recharge my batteries.
If you can you offer me energy, please…
I proudly present you the trailer of Plug Me In. I worked really hard for it and I’m very happy with the end result. Watch it here and let me know what you think of it!
Yes! The big news is out! I’ve finally got a car sponsored and now I can start my journey.
In January 2014 I started working on my dream to travel around the world with the help of others. It took me a while to came up with the right idea. In March ’14 I’ve had the concept of Plug Me In ready and then I started to work out the details. Finding partners, sponsors, creating the website etcetera. The big deal was to find an electric car. Quite expensive things and way out of my student budget so I had to find creative ways to get one. I talked to several car companies and most of them where interested but at the end the risk seemed too big or the plan didn’t fit their marketing campaigns.
In June this year I got in touch with Marcel Peters from Bundles. Bundles is a new way of washing. You don’t buy a washing machine but pay for the service. This way you save money, electricity and because the washing machines have an A-label it’s also more sustainable. I approached Marcel because I saw a good match in Bundles in terms of sustainability and asked him about the possibilities of sponsoring. Marcel was instantly very enthusiastic about the project. He told me that he owns a electric car and might want to provide it to me when the time was right. I kept looking for alternatives, waited a long time and finally last week Marcel called: “Wiebe let’s do this!” he told me. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard it, probably the neighbors 3 blocks aways could hear me yelling.
The car is a converted VW Golf Variant. The back is loaded with batteries and the car has a range of 160km. This may not sound like a lot but for an electric car this is pretty decent. Most common cars you see now on the road make it till 130km.
Planning
Now that I have the car I can set the startdate and that will be March 15. So the next 3 months are going to be busy, very busy. I got most things sorted out but still need to make agreements, create a trailer and find some sponsors. For more info about that keep an eye on this website and my social media channels.
One last thing is that i want to express my gratitude to Marcel and the Bundles team for believing in this dream and that they want to join in on this adventure! It’s going to be one hell of a ride!
Gadgetfreak and EV lover Vincent Everts took me for a drive in his Tesla and interviewed me about Plug Me In.