Cabo da Roca to Nordkapp in seven days in an eVito Tourer from 2020
“EVs are not for long trips.”
“High-mileage EVs can’t travel far.”
“EV batteries don’t last.”
So say the so-called “experts” on social media.
On 8 July, I left Cabo da Roca — the western edge of continental Europe — in our December 2020 Mercedes eVito Tourer. It already had 150,334 km on the odometer and about 90% battery state of health.
Seven days later, on 14 July, I reached Nordkapp.
5,694 km.
One driver.
Nine countries.
A 5½-year-old electric van rated only 1.5/5 for long-distance suitability by the EV Database.
Over the trip, the eVito took 1,610 kWh from the grid, averaging 284 Wh/km. Charging cost €551, or €9.68 per 100 km.
Using the hourly/location-based carbon intensity of the electricity used for charging (from Electricity Maps), the trip produced about 171 kg of CO₂ — 30 g/km.
For comparison, an equivalent diesel Vito using 7.5 L/100 km would have burned about 427 litres, costing roughly €854 and producing around 1.4 tonnes of CO₂ on a well-to-wheels basis.
So, compared with diesel: about €303 less spent on energy and 1.25 tonnes less CO₂.
None of this means an eVito is the perfect long-distance EV. It isn’t. Charging is relatively slow, range is modest by current standards, and there are much better road-trip EVs today - which makes the result more interesting.
This was also only the first part of the trip. After Nordkapp, the journey slowed down and became a family holiday: south through Norway, several days around Stryn, then Oslo with the family, before starting the long drive back through Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Spain to Portugal.
By the time the eVito reached home again at the end of July, the whole adventure had covered almost 14,000 km in 22 days.