Adventurer Chris Ramsey Talks EVs & His Pole-To-Pole Trip In Nissan Ariya — Part 3
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Chris Ramsey, who will drive a Nissan Ariya E-4ORCE from the North Pole to the South Pole in March 2023, recently sat down with me for an interview. In part one, we talked about what inspired him. In part two, we talked about his excitement for the upcoming trip as well as his experience in becoming a Guinness World Record holder. This is part three. In this part, we talk about:
- Chris Ramsey’s Most Exciting Memories From His Adventures So Far
- What Chris Ramsey Is Looking Forward To In The Pole-To-Pole Adventure
Chris Ramsey’s Most Exciting Memories From His Adventures So Far
Adventures always come with fond memories, and I asked Chris to share some of what he found to be the most exciting. He shared some of the experiences that he and his wife had while on the Mongol Rally.
“The Mongol Rally has been the one that’s the most memorable. It’s actually memorable for different reasons in the sense that you think you’ve done this great achievement, you’ve driven three-quarters of the planet in an electric car. But it’s actually the people that we’ve met and all the stories that come from there — where it’s more inspired by what how the people treated us than compared to what we’ve done and what we’ve achieved essentially.
“For example, when we were in Kazakhstan, we were driving through plenty of deserts and we passed this young boy. He was herding goats, had his head down, and he basically saw us and his face lit up. He saw this car driving through the desert and he waved to us and we pulled up. At that point, we had picked up a police escort in Kazakhstan.
“The police translated to him. This was his life as a 13-year-old boy — he was walking from his village to sell these goats and then he’d have to walk home. He was curious about the car.”
Chris Ramsey and his wife not only allowed the young boy to experience the EV, but they took him and the goats to the town he was going to and then made sure he got home safely to his parents.
“When we got there, his family just opened the door to us. There was food and everything and we had such a time. They wouldn’t let us pay a penny, or do anything for them. The kindness that we received from people is probably the most amazing and the most exciting thing about it. And realizing that humanity is actually good. And there’s a lot of kindness out there and that’s really what we’re so excited about with Pole-To-Pole.”
Chris Ramsey told me that he found it exciting that he got to do the Mongol Rally with his wife, which was another way for them to share the experience together.
What Chris Ramsey Is Looking Forward To In The Pole-To-Pole Adventure
“The excitement for me is the countries, the cultures, the people we’re going to experience as we travel through, and this Pole-To-Pole is more than us just driving the Nissan Ariya, which is amazing and I’m so fortunate that Nissan joined us on this journey, but it’s a lot more than that as well.”
“People think that we just go from pole to pole and it’s going to be a great thing for an electric vehicle to do this. No vehicle’s ever done it before. Great! But this is not a race, it isn’t a rally, and this isn’t about how quickly can we do it. It’s all about just taking the time out to travel through these regions and learn and explore everything that’s going on. All the amazing people are already doing incredible things within their towns and cities and villages around sustainability, and inspiring change within the communities.”
Chris emphasized that it was meeting these people, establishing that human sense of connection, and sharing all the good that they are doing in their communities with the world.
“A lot of people think that ‘Climate change is a big issue and it’s too much for me as an individual to tackle, so I’m not going to do it. It’s too big.’ But when you actually stop and look at it, you can do just very simple little things that could make a big difference, because you have that ripple effect. For example, we’re not taking any plastic products on this expedition and I actually don’t use a lot of plastic products in my life. I’m eradicating that as much as I can.
“If people did simple things such as using a bar of soap rather than buying shower gels — simple little things like that — and they tell their friends about it and suddenly all their friends are buying the soap and then all their friends are buying bars of soap, and there’s less plastic going into the ocean and the landfills.”
Stay tuned for part 4.
Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
CleanTechnica's Comment Policy
