Above, from top: Lexie Alford makes it to Nice after driving 30,000 km in the Ford Explorer EV, flanked by iconic Ford vehicles. Lexie Alford receives official recognition from RecordSetter for being the first person to circumnavigate the globe in an electric vehicle. The Ford Explorer EV in the Atacama Desert, Chile.
Forget range anxiety: Lexie Alford, who uses the handle @LexieLimitless, has become the first person to circumnavigate the globe in an electric vehicle, the Volkswagen-based Ford Explorer EV.
Alford drove on six continents, through 27 countries, and over 30,000 km exclusively on electric power, arriving at the finishing line in Nice.
Alford already holds the world record as the youngest person to visit every country on the planet.
Her drive mirrors that of Aloha Wanderwell, the first woman to drive around the world in the 1920s, using a Ford Model T, also beginning and ending in Nice. Wanderwell ultimately clocked up over 500,000 miles in Ford vehicles.
Codenamed CX740, the Explorer EV is based on the Volkswagen ID.4 but is sized between that model and the Volkswagen ID.3. It does, however, have its own dampers, tyres and suspension, and the infotainment system is Ford’s.
Driving range is a claimed 600 km on a single charge, and the battery capacity can go from 10 to 80 per cent in 26 minutes on DC charging.
It is Ford’s first EV to be built at Köln following a US$2 milliard investment.
‘Lexie’s journey has been the ultimate test drive for our new Ford Explorer, taking on every kind of weather and road condition, and dealing with just about every charging scenario,’ said Martin Sander, general manager, Ford Model E Europe. ‘It embodies the true “can do” spirit of this company, seizing this great opportunity to not only test ourselves but also the world’s charging infrastructure. Today’s crossing of the finish line proves just what you can do in the new all-electric Ford Explorer, and we’re delighted that customers will soon be able to find out for themselves.’
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