Introduction

Engineers often pose thought experiments that challenge them to solve difficult problems. The one we came up with appears fairly simple on the surface:

Can you drive from point A to point B in an EV completely off-grid carrying all your own food, water, and power?

We call this a “Martian Roadtrip” - just like in the movie The Martian where Mark Watney has to travel across Mars in a rover EV.

Short distances are pretty easy. Over about 500 miles it gets trickier. You need to bring solar panels along to recharge. The more solar panels, the more miles you can travel each day. But more panels also means more weight.

This is a multivariable optimization problem. More weight reduces the efficiency of the car and thus increases the energy you need. You can trade off weight for time - drive fewer miles each day. But if you take too long you run out of food and you fail anyways.

We’ve decided to not just think about this but do it! We’re in the process of planning it all out - everything from the solar panels, to the charging system, food supplies, and maybe even a trailer. And then someone(!) will get in an EV and go!

The goal is to get across as quickly as possible. Maybe this will be the start of a new kind of competition… Who knows?