“The biggest challenge was finding charging points”

At the beginning of last year, Martín Canabal decided to pack his bags and leave the San Francisco, California area, the place where he moved with his wife after she had the opportunity to work in a technology company in Silicon Valley. His wife’s contract in the city was ending, but he wanted to return to his native Uruguay in a special way, “to remember him for the rest of his life.”

“I remember that when we were going to San Francisco, on the layover in Miami, I told my wife: ‘When we return, I’m not going to do it by plane. I want to return by boat or by car driving. That’s going to be my adventure’”, explains Canabal during an interview via Zoom with the voice of america from Bahía Blanca, Argentina, where he made a technical stop while driving to Punta del Este, Uruguay, where he will reside from now on.

“She thought it was a joke”, but nothing could be further from the truth. She convinced two other friends, Tuti Iraola and Oliver Umpierre, to make a journey from one end to the other of the American continent aboard some Tesla electric vehicles.

From Alaska to Ushuaia

“We started in Anchorage, Alaska, on June 1 and formally ended on December 29 in Ushuaia, in Argentina,” he details about this journey that has become “the trip of my life.”

They knew that it was not going to be an easy adventure, mainly because not all countries are adapted to electric vehicles. In some places they don’t even have power outlets so they can be charged. So I had to plan everything beforehand.

“The biggest challenge was the load”

“One of the great challenges was the issue of cargo. In the United States, except for the economic issue, there is no excuse for not having electric cars because the adequate infrastructure exists for it. But in other places it is not so, although Mexico is a little better because Tesla is on the market, in the rest of the countries in the region they are not prepared,” he commented, convinced that this “will change soon” because in those nations ” They are making efforts” to incorporate this type of car in a general way.

For the adventure, which they titled “Electric Americas”they chose to go aboard a Tesla because “it is the vehicle that had the greatest range (of autonomy) at that time, it had more experience in the sector compared to other brands and because there is a community of owners (called “Tesla Owners”)” where many, as with Harley Davidson motorcycles, share their concerns and advice on the use of these cars.

So they planned the route according to the places where they could get cargo and “to try to optimize the times” of the trip. “For example, we would go to hotels and leave charging all night and the next day you would have a ‘full tank’ to continue. But we also charged wherever we could, in private people’s homes, in companies, in public squares, inventing all kinds of gadgets, ”he recalls. He adds that “most of the time it was thanks to the disinterested help of the people” who lent him their plugs so he could charge them.

Despite the problems finding points to charge electric cars, Canabal jokes that it took him “much more to find the internet and yerba mate.”

“We got to places I still can’t believe and it makes me bristle at the thought. We went to Guatemala, to Mexico, to the Atacama desert, in Chile, ”she details.

Elon Musk knows about this adventure

His journey throughout the American continent has caught the attention of many because it is the first time that someone has traveled the Pan-American route in an electric car, covering more than 32,000 kilometers. This has made it an ambassador for this type of vehicle, which is increasingly popular given the climate situation and the awareness that exists among society to be more careful with the environment.

Even the Tesla company, the brand of the vehicles with which they traveled throughout the continent, was interested in this project and Elon Musk himself, founder and CEO of the company, is aware of what these three Uruguayans have done for the region.

“There are no more excuses for not using electric cars”

“We did not do this for fame, that was not our goal, but we did want to convince a lot of people that if today we can do the Pan-American route in electric cars, there are already many fewer excuses for having electric cars on a day-to-day basis because the issue of cargo is no longer so important”, comments Canabal during the interview with the VOA.

“Every day, 60 or 120 kilometers are covered, it depends on where your job is, and when you arrive, you reload the car. Every day and much cheaper than gasoline. So what is the excuse for not having these types of vehicles?” He defends convinced that “in five years, our infrastructure will exist and the cars will no longer be the same”, in addition to the fact that, in his opinion, they are much more careful with the environment.

“Nothing will be done without the support of governments”

However, this 45-year-old mechanical engineer assures that private companies will not be able to do anything without the support of public institutions, which, in his opinion, are the ones that have to give space so that this type of industry can develop with success.

In the United States, for example, they are already working on it. President Joe Biden announced in April 2021, during the Climate Summit, that his Administration is immersed in a project to create “millions of green energy jobs”, boost this sector, including electric vehicles, and have an electrical system free of carbon dioxide emissions in 2035.

“Yes, governments have to provide the conditions for private companies to make these investments, which are very large. If we convince governments to reduce the risk to companies and facilitate the issue of procedures to help in this transition, it will be much better, especially in Latin America ”, he maintains.

An adventure made documentary

A route with a lot of purpose. Their journey of almost seven months has been captured on video with the idea of ​​making a documentary, showing the places where they passed with the electric vehicle and learning about the culture and traditions of those places. In its website You can already consult some images and videos of the journey.

They also took the opportunity to do some adventure sports, such as surfing or skiing, their other passions. They have already received an offer from several on-demand platforms that have been interested in the project.

But first, it’s time to get home, “process all this adventure” and start again in Uruguay.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and instagram.