Tanzania with an electric car
After Mozambique and Malawi with both no fast-charging stations or any kind of chargers for that matter, we had found a way to charge our car each time we needed to. Therefore, when we entered Tanzania, we expected this would be no different. But, the second we crossed the border, things changed.
The first hotel we visited and asked to charge our car asked us to leave, they did not want to help us. Something we had not experienced ever before in the entire expedition. The second hotel we visited accepted our request after agreeing to an extra payment. It was only an hour later that the lady came knocking on our door to ask if we could stop. When we asked both times what the issue was, it seemed they did not trust us regarding the amount of power we needed. There was a fear we would shut down the entire hotel by charging our car. We tried to explain patiently how it worked, that we draw only 2kW (about the same as an air-conditioning unit, which they all had several off), that all would be OK, and that we would pay more than the power would cost them. Nevertheless, it kept on being a difficult topic. Luckily, we could charge just enough at the last hotel to make it to the next destination the day after. This time it was a campsite where we hoped we could charge on the grid. Once we arrived, the current appeared to be too unstable which resulted in the fact that we could charge with less than 1kW.
We had no other choice but to use our solar panels once again. This was no issue at all and it worked great as luckily it was a sunny morning that day. We topped the charging session of at-night charging with the available 1kW. Thanks to this combination we could make it to the capital of Tanzania the next day, called Dodoma. It was here that we found a brand-new charging station of 7kW installed at the United Nations. It was fenced but thanks to X (Twitter) we found the right person to get in. This contact person was not only valuable for this session but also for future ones. When we arrived at a hotel again a couple of days later, and the locals did not trust us with our question, we called him and he could explain in their mother language what we needed. All was fine after that…
Kenya with an electric car
In Kenya all circumstances were different again, locals had heard of electric cars before and therefore were not afraid of providing electricity. We even found a fast charger of 70kW in the capital Nairobi, and a new charger in Kisumu of 7kW. To top it all off, we visited an eco-lodge in Masai Mara where they use electric 4×4’s to offer game drives to visitors. It was such a cool experience to see how electric cars are being integrated here in Kenya!
On the 28th of September, we drove our electric car to the harbor of Mombasa. As there was a war in Sudan, we had no other choice but to ship our car from Kenya to Europe. As we want to drive as much as possible by land, the car will be shipped to Greece in a couple of weeks’ time. This means therefore the end of our expedition in Africa, and almost the end of the entire expedition. In November 2023 we will drive the last leg of our expedition, from Greece to the Netherlands, testing the fast-charging network which we expect to be just perfect. But of course, in a couple of months, you will read here all about it!
