Hyundai Kona Will Cover 700 Km At 17,000 Feet To Be The First Electric Car To Reach Mt Everest Base Camp
Electric cars in India struggle with a mental barrier termed as ‘range anxiety’, much due to the lack of a widespread charging network in the country. To overcome this, OEMs in the country have been conducting special drives with their electric vehicles. Latest in the line is Hyundai Motor India Ltd, which is now taking ts much potent electric car – Hyundai Kona to the Mt Everest base camp.
A ‘Mission Emission Impossible’ was flagged off by the company recently. The drive will see the all-electric SUV Kona drive from Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet to Mt. Everest Base Camp in China. With this, Hyundai Kona is set to become the first electric car to reach Mt. Everest Base Camp.
The drive will see the electric car cover a distance of 700 km during the journey and reach a maximum altitude of 17,000 feet. The temperature at this height is expected to drop around -12 degrees celsius. Under these conditions, successful completion of the drive will tackle two myths around electric vehicles – one that their range is a limit to travelling long distances and another that their performance drops in extremely cold temperatures. The Kona electric will be driven by Padma Shree awardee and mountaineer Ajeet Bajaj during the expedition.
A similar drive was recently conducted by Tata Motors for its Tata Nexon EV. Interestingly, the electric car by Tata has not been launched in the Indian market yet and the drive was meant to help create a buzz around its upcoming launch on December 19.
Tata Nexon EV was driven by Milind Soman and his wife Ankita Konwa during its trip to Leh Ladakh, which also made it the first electric car to achieve the feat.
As OEMs resort to such achievements with their electric vehicles to display their performance capability vis-a-vis an IC engine vehicle, it is interesting to see zero-emission travel to such extreme landscapes. Mt Everest has since long been affected by the ever-increasing tourism and the associated pollution at the place. A zero-emission travel to the point will at least help tackle one aspect of this and eventually establish a known way of reaching the Mt Everest base camp in an environment-friendly manner.
Source: indiatimes
