For today I had this big plan to drive from Valdum to Velling over the western coast. It was a 200km drive and on the way I should see beaches and the nice countryside of Denmark. I already knew that it would be a test to reach Velling as the roads would go up and down and I would lose range.
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In the morning Jeppe tested my car and we drove to a supermarket where he bought me lunch. Then I started driving to Thisted, there was a huge testcenter for windmills and I was interested to see that. The weather was pretty bad today, from when I started it rained and it didn’t stop. Unfortunately it was closed for visitors. By that time I already lost 60% on a 80km drive and had to do another 150 to Velling over the coast. I decided that I had to change my plan. Yesterday I made a list of charging locations on the route. In Denmark there are almost no free charging stations and the ones who are free are mostly regular 220V plugs.
On Plugshare there was one location where they listed a free Mennekes plug. It was in Hanstholm, 20km north from Thisted and I decided to go there. At the hotel they told me that there was free charging station at a gasstation in Thisted so I drove 20km back to there, unfortunately it wasn’t free. I had two options: charge at a regular plug in Thisted or drive back to the hotel and charge on 16A. I choose for the last option, I would loose 40KM but still charge pretty “fast”. Around 1PM I plugged in there.
Because it was already late and I needed to charge for about 5-6 hours I decided that I could’t make it to Velling as with the weather it was not certain I could make it and would arrive fairly late. I let Anna (my plugger for that night) know that I had to change my plans and as an EV driver she understood my problems.
At the hotel I could pick of free WiFi and looked on my map for another possibility. The next day I needed to be in Vejle and luckily I had one offer just in the middle from where I was an Vejle. I send him an sms an he quickly answered that it was ok to come this night.
Danish traffic
Ar around 6pm I started driving, the car was 85% charged by that time. The traffic in Denmark is very well organized. On a highway the max speed is 130km/h, in residential areas 50km/h and on normal roads 80 or 90km/h. What strikes me is that all the drivers really stick to the rules. When you have to lower your speed everyone does that and also on the highways people blink their lights when they swap lanes, keep to the max speed and give other drivers the space to enter when they want.
What I found interesting is that in Denmark you are mandatory to drive with your lights on at all times. I still have to get used to this and even when the sun is shining and the visibility is perfect, other drivers warn you that you have to turn your lights on, I still have to find out the reason why.
Ellert Alert!
Around 8.30 I arrived at Keld’s place in Mammen. The last km’s I drove to expansive fields and the views where mesmerizing. Keld lives in a big single house and he instantly showed me his Ellert, the crazy Danish electric vehicle which I had just been introduced to by Jeppe. Keld told me he had a few more and asked if I was interested to see them, of course.
A short drive took us to a big building at a farm side. When he opened the sliding door I couldn’t believe my eyes. The whole area, which was about the size of a swimming pool, was filled with Ellerts. With my mouth wide open I asked Keld how many he had and he invited me to count them, he was not sure but he guessed there where about 60 of them.
Keld had been collecting them for about 25 years. He has the fourth ever who came of the production line and from every type he as at least one. He recognizes the cars by the serial numbers that are written in the dust on the front windows. In another room he had spare parts of the vehicles. Wheels, tires, red cables, blue cables, white cables, I don’t know what it all was but he had it all. Keld wishes that once he can build a museum to show his impressive collection. He really knows all the details about this vehicle and could talk for days about this so I’m sure he can fill a museum with his collection and stories.
Later we drove back to his house. Kjeld told me that Mammen (where only 300 people life) is famous for it’s cheese and history. Apparently it was a town where Vikings lived and during excavations they found an axe covered with diamonds. A replica of this axe is hanging at the entrance of the town.
His wife Line and a bunch of her friends just arrived home from a long cycling trip. They wanted to know everything about what I was doing and had to take about 50 pictures of me and the car which where instantly spread on their whatsapp groups.
