Two friends, Jordan Hart and Bradly D'Souza, have beaten the previous record for the fastest transcontinental run in an electric vehicle by more than three hours. Using a Tesla Model S, they traveled from Redondo Beach, California, to New York City in just 51 hours and 47 minutes. The previous record was 55 hours.
The duo achieved the feat through a combination of bullishness and optimal driving strategies, only stopping to eat once and selectively ignoring the vehicle's recommendations. “I believe that our knowledge of the limitations and willingness to push the boundaries whenever possible is what made the largest difference,” D’Souza told The Verge.
Despite some hardware obstacles, like their Tesla Model S 85D being less efficient than the Model S used by the previous record holders, the pair endured no environmental hardships. As Hart explained, "We hit essentially zero traffic jams, only [four] minutes of inclement weather, and arrived in NYC on a holiday to find the streets almost empty/devoid of traffic.”
This represents a victory for not only the two Tesla owners, who were doing the run to raise awareness of human trafficking, but also for Tesla specifically and the electric car market in general. It illustrates the capabilities of EV technology and will potentially speed up the acceptance of EVs into the mainstream.
Fastest transcontinental run isn't the only EV record to be broken recently. Steven Peeters and Joeri Cools broke the hypermiling record for a Tesla, achieving a whopping 901.2 kilometers (~560 miles) on a single charge, and the Nio EP9 broke the record for fastest speed of an electric vehicle, getting to a dizzying 312 km/h (194 mph). The age of impressive electric vehicles is well and truly upon us.
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