Quick drive, longer wait for record sign-off?

The bid to enter the Guinness Book of Records went well – now ratification is awaited.

 RATIFYING the successful record-bid electric car drive from the top to the bottom of mainland New Zealand completed by John Fitness could take much longer than that two day feat of endurance – weeks, perhaps months. 

The Auckland man registered with the Guinness World Records to set a record for travelling the length of the country in the fewest number of charging stops in an EV.

He set off from Cape Reinga in his Tesla Model 3 at 5.37am on Thursday, February 4, arriving in Bluff at 9.34pm on the next night, where he subsequently quipped to a television news crew that he didn’t imagine the drive “could've done it much faster in a petrol car, if at all, actually."

Fitness did the drive to prove to Kiwis perhaps sceptical about the merits of electric cars that they actually had the range and performance to match fossil-fuelled equivalents for long distance driving – but at much lower running cost. 

He says the combined cost of the electricity drawn by his car from the six fast-charging stations he replenished at en route came to $117.69.

In subsequent Facebook posts, Fitness acknowledged two other aspects.

His allocation of ‘free’ charging that attaches with Tesla ownership for a set duration has now almost exhausted – he now has enough for perhaps one more trip.

Also, the process of confirming his effort meets the status required to become an official record, recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, will likely take some time – perhaps up 18 weeks.

Fitness had to keep a careful record and also arrange official witnesses, accepted by Guinness, to vouch for him along the way. They included Invercargill’s mayor, media and public identity Tim Shadbolt, who greeted the car when it reached Bluff. 

At his six stops along the way - three in the North Island, three in the South Island - he was greeted by supporters.

Among those seeing Fitness off at the start of his journey were Northland iwi Ngāti Kuri, something the EV enthusiast told TVNZ "kicked off the trip with the right tone".

Each of the charging stops ended up being the "perfect break" through the trip, Fitness says.

They were spaced out around three-and-a-half to four hours apart and last around 35 minutes each.

Fitness told TVNZ it was a good way to break up fatigue.

"It's time to get some food or a coffee as you go for a bit of a walk about. It was actually a perfect break."

The car ran seamlessly, he said, though the driving schedule was disrupted by the Cook Strait ferry he took running slightly late, but he made up time on the road.

Teslas have featured in previous distance driving record pitches for electric cars, including a feat in Europe in 2017 that saw a car clock 1078 kilometres on a single charge. This asked for a team of drivers as it involved hypermiling – a technique of careful driving often at well below posted open road limits. A marked difference to Fitness’ run, which was at everyday pace.

Electric car enduro under way

Auckland enthusiast running Cape Reinga to Bluff to prove EVs aren’t just for short trips.

 CALL it a true a test of Fitness, his car and Tesla’s national electric vehicle recharging infrastructure.

Anyone travelling the major North-South route today and tomorrow should keep an eye out for Auckland’s John Fitness, who has hit the road in his distinctive Tesla Model 3 to prove a point and hopefully set a world record while he does it.

The Cape Reinga to Bluff roadie is a 2068km, 29-hour marathon roadie which Fitness wants to complete with as few stops as possible.

He departed Cape Reinga this morning on what is planned out as a two-day drive that he aims to complete with just six charging stops — three for each island. This means on average, he will have to travel 300km from stop to stop.

The trip has interest from the Guinness Book of World Records – Fitness aims to reset the record for travelling from the top to the bottom of a country with the least amount of stops.

To ensure the record is recognised as legit by Guinness, he has numerous witnesses lined up across the journey.

Today’s stops are in Whangarei, Hamilton, and Mangaweka then he hopes on a ferry to cross Cook Strait.

Tomorrow begins with a 74km run to a charger in Ward, with other stops in Christchurch and Palmerston before finishing in Bluff. 

Fitness says he’s inspired by a recent Tesla Supercharger launch in Whangarei. It was then that he realised the brand’s recharging network was in place to make a world record run possible.

“I thought, 'Look, we've actually got the infrastructure now to do a full run through the country, essentially to emulate that great Kiwi road trip from the Cape to the Bluff,’” he said.

“Having been involved with having an electric car for such a long time, even my closest friends go, 'Oh you can't go far out of Auckland, you can't drive that far,' and it's just about dispelling some of those myths.

“I think my longest drive is just under four hours. Because I've got those six evenly spaced stops, each stop will be between 30 to maybe 55 minutes roughly.

“The battery technology has improved so quickly in the last three years I've been driving electric, inevitably it'll come down super quick and I think that when you look at your next car, it's starting to become more realistic to go electric or partial electric — hybrid or plug-in hybrid, for example.

“What I want to show with this trip is that, granted, the price might be too high at this point, but very soon — maybe this year or the year after next — you're looking at factory electric cars that can do everything you need it to, including the great Kiwi road trip. It shows feasibility.”

It's not clear how of much the run will be conducted solo, though he does have a friend joining as a navigator for a South Island section while local enthusiasts will help as guides to ensure he gets a smooth run through unfamiliar city routes.

Popular Tesla now from China?

Speculation about some NZ-market versions of the popular Model 3 sedan moving to Shanghai production appears cemented.

INCREASING conjecture by New Zealand Tesla-rati about the make’s plant in China taking over production of the best-selling variants of Model 3 sedans bound for this market seems to be confirmed.

Speculation about this switch occurring has been rife for some time, arising even before the factory near Shanghai began operation last year. 

Now brand supporters here have picked up on changes being made to the company’s online configurator that cement this thought, for Australia as well as NZ.

It’s not all versions, however.

Fans writing on the EV Owners’ NZ Facebook page seem to be in agreement with Australia media reports that suggest the 2021 Standard Range Plus and Long Range will now be made in China.

The flagship Performance model will continue to source from the production facility in Fremont, California, that has provisioned all NZ-market Model 3s until now.

Telsa itself has yet to offer official comment on this. The brand famously axed its publics relations division last year.

An Australian daily website, CarAdvice, says it was made aware of the change through being a Tesla delivery tracking service, VedaPrime.

It and NZ Tesla fans cited the tip-off for the production location switch as coming from a range of minor updates and changes now being provisioned on the configurator.

One particular red herring: The introduction of revised front door trims, which feature new extensions of the dashboard trim inlays, including in white – a feature unique to Shanghai-based Model 3 production.

Both models are also now available with a white interior – an option previously exclusive to the range-topping Model 3 Performance.

The Model 3 Standard Range Plus can also now be optioned with the 19-inch 'Sport' alloy wheels previously exclusive to the Long Range, CarAdvice says.

Chinese production also ushers in an increase in the driving range, to a total of 508km – just three months after it was upgraded from 460km to 490km, as part of a 2021 upgrade.

Tesla followers here have suggested on the EV Owners NZ forum that those figures are not to be considered as absolute gospel, citing that the cars tend to deliver less than these ranges in daily use.

They point out that the ranges are estimated mated by using the NEDC measure, a now outdated driving cycle measure.  NZ no longer identifies NEDC, preferring instead the WLTP guidance that is now used in Europe.

CarAdvice also says a listing in the Australian government's Road Vehicle Certification System – a official database listing all vehicles certified for compliance with Australian Design Rules – also confirms the production switch for the two entry grades.

Chinese-built variants now wearing vehicle identification numbers starting with LRW – the World Manufacturer Identifier assigned to Tesla's Shanghai factory, with the L signifying Chinese production.

It’s understood the intention behind the production switch is to reduce wait times for European and Asia-Pacific-market customers. It could also deliver improvement in assembly quality; last year several automotive magazines compared US and China-built cars and judged the latter to be superior in many aspects, but notably insulation, paint quality and panel fit. US-made Teslas are often lambasted for assembly faults and shortcomings.

The Model 3 was New Zealand’s best-selling fully electric car in 2020.