A noted German ‘adventure driver’ has set a world record for crossing Canada with the fewest charging stops in an electric vehicle.. World record mapThe route Ranier Zietlow took across Canada in an EV. .Rainer Zietlow, along with a cameraman, drove from St. John’s to Victoria — 7,133 kilometres — making just 18 stops in seven days at an average speed of 81 km/h, a feat that has been duly noted by the Guinness World Book of Records.. TransCanada EVNew VW EV against two Bugs. .He left Mile 0 in St. John’s on July 31 and arrived in BC on Aug. 6. He’s now taking a more leisurely drive back before he returns home to Mannheim..Zietlow follows a long tradition of promotional ‘cross country’ publicity stunts to promote the automobile starting in the early 20th Century..In 1903, H. Nelson Jackson, Sewall Crocker, and their dog Bud made the first successful transcontinental automobile trip from San Francisco to New York in a 1903 Winton roadster named ’Vermont’. It took 63 days, but they made headlines wherever they went..That inaugural road trip helped establish that long-distance road travel was a real — if difficult —proposition..Nearly 123 years later Zietlow is following that tradition, this time in an EV and documenting it on social media..No surprise, he used a stock Volkswagen ID.4 GTX to do it, given that VW is one of his home country’s most recognized brands. .The ID.4 was ranked the best EV in the world when it was introduced last November by the Specialty Equipment Market Association. The GTX version boasts 295 horsepower, a claimed range of 479 km and an electronically limited top speed of 180 km/hr. .It’s also reasonably priced at less than $50,000 in Canada — before incentives — for the base model..To his credit, Zietlow didn’t just stick to the paved confines of Hwy 1; his photo blog shows he also took unpaved back roads through Saskatchewan and Alberta and Hwy. 3 through the Crowsnest Pass..And though he’s ostensibly an ambassador for the German automaker, he’s also a bona fide adventurer, completing expeditions on all seven continents in a variety of German vehicles with a variety of fuels and engines. .In fact, he’s set five world records since 2020 driving various EV models in Germany, the US, Alaska and even Bolivia, where he took an ID.4 to 5,816 metres or 19,081 feet above sea level up the Uturuncu volcano..But it’s not just EVs. In 2006 Zietlow completed the first circumnavigation of the globe across six continents in a car powered only by natural gas. In 2009 he visited all 800 natural gas fuelling stations in Germany using a gas-powered Passat..In 2014 he drove 18,000 kilometres from Norway to South Africa. Overall he’s set 21 world records since 2005 in various gasoline, natural gas and electric powered vehicles.."It is special to celebrate this achievement… by making a second coast to coast trip across this beautiful country." said Zietlow. "I hope it will provide Canadians with confidence in the long-distance capabilities of electric vehicles and the continuously improving charging infrastructure in Canada."
