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e-Reto Challenge completed! This morning, the electric vehicle that visited 47 Spanish provincial capitals in under a week arrived in style at Endesa's headquarters, signalling the end of the e-Reto Challenge that Endesa X and the expert drivers from Autopista car magazine started on 7 November in Palma de Mallorca aboard a Nissan Leaf e+. After 6721 km of continuous travel and only 37 stops to recharge, the electric vehicle arrived at the finish line in Madrid yesterday ahead of schedule.
e-Reto Challenge completed! This morning, the electric vehicle that visited 47 Spanish provincial capitals in under a week arrived in style at Endesa's headquarters, signalling the end of the e-Reto Challenge that Endesa X and the expert drivers from Autopista car magazine started on 7 November in Palma de Mallorca aboard a Nissan Leaf e+. After 6721 km of continuous travel and only 37 stops to recharge, the electric vehicle arrived at the finish line in Madrid yesterday ahead of schedule.
The Leaf e+ model
Ten relay teams, with two drivers each, visited the whole of Spain in the second-generation Nissan Leaf e+, which was launched early last year. The second version of the model was recently unveiled, with a 62-kWh battery (versus the 40-kW battery in the previous version) and boasting a range of 385 km according to the WLTP standard, making it an ideal electric vehicle for long journeys. In fact, in this edition of Endesa X's e-Ruta Challenge, around 80% of the route was on toll motorways or dual carriageways.
The new Leaf e+ can be charged using charging points with a power rating of up to 100 kW, enabling it to be used with ultra-rapid chargers such as those that Endesa X plans to soon roll out across Spain.
Today it's a challenge, tomorrow it won't be
The aim of the initiative was to highlight how electric vehicles are becoming more commonplace. What is currently a challenge will very shortly form part of our daily routines. This is achievable but requires a firm commitment to implementing electric vehicle recharging infrastructure plans. At the end of last year, Endesa launched the most ambitious plan in Spain; entailing an investment of 65 million euro, the company will install 8500 public charging points between now and 2023.
In the initial phase (2018–2019) of the plan, Endesa X will roll out a network of 2000 charging points, which will connect cities with over 35,000 inhabitants and routes covering 15,000 km of main roads and urban areas, thus enabling 75% of the Spanish population to access public charging facilities in their area. This will mean drivers always have a charging point within 100 km of their location and can cross Spain safe in the knowledge that they will not run out of power.
In the second phase (from 2021 to 2023), a further 6500 new public access charging points will be installed at shopping centres, car parks, hotels, service stations and on public roads etc., in order to keep up with the growth in the electric vehicle market, providing better coverage in urban areas and the main strategic communication hubs across continental Spain and on islands.