Welcome to the first world tour of a vehicle powered only by solar energy!
From Amsterdam to Bremen in rain21.11.2008
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After saying bye bye to my great hosts Leora, Ed and Shay I left Amsterdam on a rainy day, hoping my whiper wont give up. It was raining most of the time, and I pushed it very hard to reach Lochem, half way to Muenster. What I have seen in between? I dont even remember, it was so grey and cloudy I dont know where I went, I switched off my brain and instinctly followed my GPS.
But what really blew my mind today was the warm welcome at ECE "Electric Cars Europe", and its head Jarval Engels. Jarval took me on a ride in his newest model, a converted Lotus Elise, and he now showed me what it really means to drive an electric car: Acceleration from o to 100 in just under 5 seconds! After pushing the pedal down, in the first gear, and then just seconds later seeing the trees flying by at highway speed, that was unforgettable!
Here future is being made: Converting the Lotus Elise into an electric car. Or the VW Golf Caravan or even a Malaysian Proton. I could have stayed much longer, but I had to leave, as Muenster was waiting. What a strange welcome back: Suddenly, for the first time in 16 months, everybody spoke German! About almost one dozen electric vehicles, organized by my friend Gerd Petrusch, were waiting for me at the university, where I then had a press conference and a talk. German media is top, very interested and I had to answer (finally!) many questions which had never been asked to me before.
The university booked us in a hotel on the campus, where I had to leave at 6 today morning, as I had to reach Bremen in time. In Bremen, known by its "Stadtmusikanten", I met our local host and organiser Kaspar and also two people working for the city council. It was a good talk we had in a nice historic restaurant, showing me that we all agree: the whole world talks about global warming, but NOTHING is being done.
It is quite a sad conclusion to say after a fantastic 16 months around the world tour which was aimed to find solutions. While I have found tons of solutions, I also lost my illlusions. People and behaviours still have to change a lot. The changes still have to come. Back to Germany, at least, this is the place to talk about it seriously. At least at the "Stammtisch".
