For the last series of Long Way Up on Apple TV+, Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor opted to undertake their most gruelling journey yet on all-electric Harley-Davidsons. It presented somewhat a challenge, considering a fast charging infrastructure is almost absent in South and Central America.
However, they learned a lot about the future of electric transport while travelling and that often the biggest barriers are in the mind. Speaking to the Pocket-lint Podcast, Boorman explained that distance anxiety is barely a new thing and something we've all overcome in the past: "People have fear of change, right? When we were going from horse and cart to the petrol driven car, people were absolutely terrified that you would leave your home with a full tank of gas, drive down to whatever town and then weren't sure if you would be able to buy fuel in that town. And, the only place you could buy fuel was in a chemist - if they had it. So this range anxiety is not something new," he explained.
When starting out, the Boorman and McGregor had similar concerns: "We had that same fear. I mean, Ewan and I were on these bikes that were basically built for us. They were one-offs. And, on the day we left, we realised that we'd never actually really charged the bikes properly before. Then we were getting off to go through South America and, you know, 13 countries and 30,000 miles."
Unlike the beginnings of the petrol age, however, electricity is more prevalent: "Most of of the world has some form of electricity. And so it's actually not that difficult to get a charge. When we were in Patagonia and extreme remote places. then it became difficult. But, there wasn't one person who said, 'Oh, no, you can't charge here.' People were absolutely delighted," he added.
As for future EV plans, Boorman believes this is the start of a rapidly charging landscape: "The acceleration of what we're going to get next in the next three or four years is just going to be bonkers," he said.
You can hear much more of our Charley Boorman interview, plus additional comments on an electrified future from the head of marketing of GoWithFlow, Tomas Edwards, in the Pocket-lint Podcast episode 131 available from Friday 26 November 2021.
Source : https://www.pocket-lint.com/cars/news/159201-charley-boorman-ev-range-anxiety-is-not-new
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