By the time they reach ninety degrees south, Chris and Julie Ramsey will have driven over 27,000km (17,000 miles) through 14 countries across three continents. In exploration terms, such journeys would normally barely register with purists who still rate Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ 1979-82 Transglobe longitudinal circumnavigation as the benchmark. But when the history of 21st-century adventure is written, the Ramseys’ Pole to Pole Electric Vehicle Expedition (P2PEV) could merit a chapter of its own. Not so much because the husband-and-wife team will become the first to drive from the Magnetic North Pole to the Geographical South Pole, but because they will be undertaking the journey in an all-electric vehicle (EV).
When they set off in their modified Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE from their departure point in northern Canada in March 2023, their mission, as Chris Ramsey explains, will be “to show that EVs can tackle the harshest of environments, from the bitter cold...