Tesla Cybertruck drivers go from Florida to the Arctic Circle

Like a sea Arctic and Antarctic exploration geek, I can tell you with confidence that it’s hard. A few guys on Twitter are making the trip to the Arctic Circle intentionally more difficult by trying to complete the trip in Teslas TSLA Cyber ​​trucks and frankly, they’re a bit embarrassed for the attempt.

The road trip started in South Florida and takes the Cybertruck straight across the US and into Canada. The EV warriors are already facing problems on their way to the start of their nearly 500-mile journey from the Arctic Circle to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. No, it’s not their Cybertrucks that shut down after going through a car washit is the lack of many charging infrastructure in the Yukon. from Futurism:

One of the team members, who goes by the name Bearded Tesla TSLA on X-former-Twitter documented how difficult it was to keep the Cybertruck’s batteries charged, especially when it came to non-Tesla Supercharger stations.

from Tesla the official map of its charging network shows that its Superchargers are noticeably absent in Canada’s northern provinces.

“We’re in the Yukon, which is pretty cool because all the chargers are free,” he said in one recent video. “It’s free because it’s a toll station. I’ve been waiting an hour to plug in here and I’ll have to change for about two and a half hours to get to the next charger.”

Before even reaching the Yukon, Bearded Tesla was fighting a charger that was stopping every five minutes.

Another member of the team, who goes by the name Teslatino, he held out his hand to the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority to ask when the province will receive Tesla Compatible Connectors (NACS) for new charging stations.

One separate videohe revealed that it took five tries and two different stands at a BC Hydro charging station to get an adapter to make the station’s CCS connectors work.

oh boy Tesla with a beard. In general, loading is bad here where there are people who actually need to use it. That far north? Electric vehicles and their peers are even fewer and far between. This would be a great opportunity, however, to highlight how rural communities are often left out of big infrastructure projects such as broadband and the latest mobile phone service, as well as vehicle charging infrastructure electrical.

I spoke with the Explorer’s Club Transglobal Car Expedition in January about the daunting task of driving around the globe via both poles—a 31,000-mile journey through nearly every habitat on the planet. They were quite proud of a Ford hybrid F The F-150 they were bringing with them… to Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Beyond that last bastion of civilization, the Explorer crew told me, everything runs on diesel.

There’s a good reason for that – driving through such wilderness is not for the faint of heart, nor is it a time for civilians to pull out untested technology for a spin. You can have a hard time driving around the Arctic in a less than reliable vehicle, as our own Raph Orlove learned. his own arctic expedition:

Driving up to Alaska for the first time, I got used to a few things about driving up north. Don’t drive at dusk or at night because that’s when the big animals come out and that’s when you hit them. (Someone I knew crashed his car hitting a moose while doing the same trip on Alcan at the same time I was driving Cassiar.) Watch out for bears. (Also, someone was killed by a bear in British Columbia while we were driving.) Always stop for gas if gas is available, no matter how full your tank is already.

But I wasn’t exactly sure what the Klondike Highway was like or what it was like to go to the ocean. I googled and found that, oh, there are polar bear viewing tours in Inuvik. Polar bears kill people.

“Yeah,” my friend said to me on the phone when I brought this up. “There is a non-zero chance of polar bears.

“You’re in the area where brown bears and polar bears mix,” he continued, “and produce viable offspring.”

Ah yes. “Viable offspring.” Always good to hear.

“You probably won’t mind, just the smells,” he encouraged, referring to any food or food-like material I might have. I remember being warned about toothpaste on my old hikes in the Sierras.

“I would sleep in the car would be my thought,” he explained. “No smells in the car. The beef should probably stay in the bear container.” How far should the bear container be? “100-200 meters.” Cool

The cold will also probably have a affect the range of the truck. The Cybertruck didn’t turn out terrible reliable or carry the proof. The breakdown of your form of transportation can end with some dire consequences. But what if several VW Beetles can tackle Antarctica, so why not a Cybertruck? It sure looks like Bearded Tesla is going into this wide-eyed in a modified Cybertruck:

It’s not every day you see a Cybertruck with a can on the side.

This seems silly to me, but driving to the Arctic Circle is something I’ve wanted to do my whole life (probably in a big diesel rental truck of some sort). I can’t help but admire their bravery and wish these Cybertruckers nothing but good weather and no bears. You can follow their way at @teslatino, @beardedteslaand @blueskykites.

A version of this post originally appeared on Jalopnik.