A Nissan Leaf takes on the Mongol Rally

So that’s 10,000 miles across hostile terrain for the electric car

Everyone knows the Mongol Rally is a car killer. It’s the sort of event where Mad Max meets the Paris Dakar. And Chris Ramsey and his wife are going to do the event this year in an all-electric almost standard Nissan Leaf. He is carrying a spare tyre.

This looks like one of those ‘plucky mad Brits’ stories with which history is littered, and you do have to wonder just how easy it will be to find a high-speed electric charger in Kazakhstan or Siberia. Yet the Ramseys are sanguine. They have done some grueling long-distance preparation drives already – they’ve driven from John O’Groats to Land’s End and from Edinburgh to Monaco.

The 10,000 miles ahead of them in the Mongol Rally may be a trifle harder. There’s no set route, so teams have to plot their course to Mongolia, and at least that gives them a chance to go via population centres where there are more likely to be recharging points, or simply a plug in someone’s house.

Their route goes from Goodwood to Belgium, on to Vienna and Istanbul, then to Baku and a ferry to Kazakhstan, then on to Siberia and Mongolia. It must be said the first part of the journey sounds a bit easier than the second.

The car really is an all but standard Nissan Leaf with a wrap. The changes include raised suspension with sump guards and metal plates underneath to protect the braided brake lines and other parts from rocks and debris. Up top there’s a roof rack with an LED light bar, which should make it possible to drive at night if necessary.

Inside the rear seats have gone to make way for storage. They’re going to be in this vehicle for about ten weeks – that’s quite a challenge in itself. But this is a route that can literally dismantle really quite tough cars, so what are the Ramseys’ preparations like?

Basically they’re banking on an electric car having less to go wrong, and if it does they will throw themselves on the kindness of strangers. It’s certainly a plan. They don’t know what the Russian is for ‘electricity’ but they have various adapters for the countries they go through and hope simply showing this will make it obvious what they’re hoping to get.

At the moment, they’re on their way on this epic journey. We wish them all the very best, and if you want to follow their progress you can watch here.

Graham Scott is a writer for PistonHeads.