Marjon Castelijns, founder of Climate Connection, is planning an expedition with an EV through Eastern Africa. The trip will start in July 2024. Luckily, Marjon was willing to answer a couple of questions about her project.
EV-Overlanding: Hi Marjon, let’s talk about your fascinating project. My understanding is, that you plan to drive together with your 8-year-old daughter in an electrified Defender for 9 months through Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania and charge mainly on solar. Is this correct?
Marjon: That is correct!
EV-Overlanding: What’s your main motivation for this expedition?
Marjon: I have two types of motivation, private and impact-driven:
Privately: I miss Eastern Africa and my friends there since we moved back to the Netherlands in 2017. However, for sustainability reasons, I do not want to fly there yearly anymore, so a longer trip is more acceptable to me. Moreover, I aim to take my daughter out of the European “systems” and allow her to experience adventure and the culture, people, and nature that are part of her roots.
Impact-driven: I lived in Uganda and worked in several Sub-Sahara countries from 2009-2017. At that time my awareness and knowledge about Climate Change was very limited. Since 2018, I started working in the energy transition in the Netherlands and gained a lot of knowledge and skills through reading, study, work, and colleagues. Since 2022, I am delivering Energy Transition master classes at secondary schools for Darel Education and recently I started facilitating Climate Fresk sessions.
It is now time to combine my previous experience in Sub-Sahara Africa, with my recent climate and energy transition experience and knowledge and my networking skills.
This idea came about because I am still in touch with friends and young people I sponsored at schools in Uganda. With them, I notice a lack of knowledge on climate change and energy transition, of what is happening in the rest of the world, and the crucial role Africa can play.
The role of Sub-Sahara Africa is rather double of course. On the one hand, they have hardly contributed to CO2 emissions while on the other hand, the most vulnerable people in Africa are hit the hardest by climate change. At the same time, Africa can make a great contribution to solving the problem, but there is relatively little investment in for example renewable energy, e-mobility, clean cooking, regenerative farming, CO2 removal, and other solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa.
By creating awareness in schools, NGOs, companies, and other organizations locally and linking local projects regionally and to Europe I aim to speed up the climate mitigation activities in the countries that I will visit. Moreover, I aim to create awareness in Europe on the impact we have in other parts of the world and the important role countries in “the global South” can play.
EV-Overlanding: These are indeed very good reasons for your expeditions and some of the mentioned aspects are often overseen in the discussions about Climate Change and e-mobiity.
Why have you selected exactly these four countries in Africa?
Marjon: This is because of “familiarity” and safety reasons. I used to live in Uganda and have worked for 5 months in Kenya before. Uganda is like home, and we can also visit friends there. These 4 countries are relatively safe and easy to travel through.
EV-Overlanding: What’s your past experience with overlanding trips and electric vehicles?
Marjon: I have been on safari in Uganda many times and once undertook a road trip from Uganda to Burundi, but have not done any “overlanding trip”. I drive electric since 2021 in the Netherlands and also traveled to Southern Europe three times for four weeks over the last years.
EV-Overlanding: What do you think will be the biggest challenge on this expedition?
Marjon: The biggest challenge will be the planning, taking into account the amount I can charge per day and scheduling appointments. We will have to adjust our speed to the charging we can do and there are no guaranteed charging locations in case the sun is not shining and/or there are power outages.
EV-Overlanding: How do you plan to finance the expedition?
Marjon: I have been financing this expedition personally right now. However, I am looking for partners and sponsors who are willing to contribute to the activities I will undertake there and to products/services I will need along the way to achieve the goals and the exposure.
EV-Overlanding: How does the Defender get to Africa? Shipping in a Container?
Marjon: Unfortunately, it is not safe to drive to Eastern Africa by road right now due to the situation in Sudan. Ethiopia and South Sudan aren’t the easiest countries to travel to either. Taking a route via West Africa will take too long and would mean too much traveling with my daughter. I will therefore ship the Defender in a container from Rotterdam to Mombasa. Normally this would take one month, but due to the unrest in the Red Sea area, it currently takes about 2 months.
EV-Overlanding: Due to fires on cargo ships in the last years many shipping companies are now hesitant to transport lithium batteries and electric vehicles. Sometimes they refuse the shipping completely and sometimes they charge an additional fee. Have you experienced this problem?
Marjon: No. Electric cars are being transported all over the planet each day. I have requested a quote from a renowned company and will have to provide additional information about the batteries and systems. EV Europe will provide all the necessary information.
EV-Overlanding: Now a couple of questions regarding your Defender. Why didn’t you buy a new EV like a Rivian or Ford F150 Lightning instead of converting a Defender to an electric drivetrain?
Marjon: There are four main reasons:
– I want to drive a car that is known in the region by mechanics and can be fixed in case something happens (non-electrical). This leads to the Toyota Landcruiser or Landrover Defender as the best options.
– I do not want to drive in a car that looks very fancy and expensive. A Defender 110 is a “normal car” in Eastern Africa.
– I want to invest in a car that does not depreciate fast due to a trip in Africa. I believe that a converted Defender will keep its value, while other cars may depreciate after an Africa trip!
– I believe that converting existing vehicles can play a role in speeding up the electrification of fleets, especially for large and “iconic” vehicles.
I contacted other companies about converting a Landcruiser too, but that route ended because the conversion kits from that company were not certified for driving in Europe. With EV Europe I could have chosen any car. I owned a Defender before when I was living in Uganda and loved that car so my “feelings” combined with financial considerations made me choose the Defender.
EV-Overlanding: All very good reasons. Especially the aspect about less depreciation could be very true. I hadn’t thought about this.
Do you expect the electrified Defender to be altogether more or less reliable than an OEM EV like a Rivian?
Marjon: I have no opinion about this for the electric parts. I do know that a Defender is a perfect car to drive offroad and many of the most vulnerable parts that typically create problems in a Defender are now replaced by the electric drivetrain.
EV-Overlanding: How large is the battery pack in your Defender and how much range do you expect to get out of a full charge (let’s assume driving at 80 km/h on a paved road)?
Marjon: The battery pack of the car will be 82 kWh. On top of that, we will install a pack (max 10 kWh) to allow charging from the solar panels (also while driving). It is almost impossible to estimate the range, but we calculate with 22 kWh / 100 km now for 80km/h on a paved road.
EV-Overlanding: I‘m very curious about the result of your first test drives. If you really reach 22 kWh / 100km, that would be a phenomenal efficiency considering the really bad aerodynamics of a Defender. Even 30 kWh / 100 km would still be a great value for this kind of vehicle.
How many electric motors are used in your Defender and have you removed the original mechanical drivetrain completely or connected the electric motors to the existing drivetrain?
Marjon: The ICE and the gearbox have been removed. We will use one electric motor which will be connected to the original transfer case, which will connect to the original differential.
EV-Overlanding: For maximum offroad performance this is the perfect setup. That way you still have the low range option and could still use differential locks. Offroad, your Defender should even surpass a quad-motor Rivian. On the other hand, this setup won’t be the best solution for maximum efficiency.
What’s your plan if you experience any problems with the electric drivetrain, battery, or electronics in your Defender in Africa?
Marjon: I am not expecting any problems, because EV Europe has already converted many cars without any problems. The system will be approved by the Dutch authorities. Moreover, I will be driving “only” about 10.000 kilometers during the trip. In case it happens, I will contact EV Europe. If it cannot be fixed via phone/internet connection, I will move the car to a local workshop/e-mobility company. If that doesn’t work, the car will need to be shipped back to Europe!
EV-Overlanding: How many solar panels do you plan to carry on this trip and what’s their summed-up peak power?
Marjon: I plan to carry 16 panels, 180wp each, so in total 2880wp.
EV-Overlanding: How often do you plan to charge from your own solar panels on this trip (as a percentage of overall charging)?
Marjon: I do not know yet, it will depend on the route, planning, and the weather. My target is to drive more than 50% on “my solar”.
EV-Overlanding: You plan to do some workshops and education projects during the trip. Please tell me more about this.
Marjon: In the Netherlands, I deliver Masterclasses for Darel Education at secondary schools. I also am a facilitator for Climate Fresk. The workshops are a combination of proven educational materials. Climate Fresk is a collaborative team workshop to understand the interrelated causes and consequences of climate change and to reflect together on possible actions. The workshop is played by collaboratively placing cards describing the causes and consequences in order. In addition to Climate Fresk, we will also connect the key solutions from “Project Drawdown” to the causes and consequences. Next, we will provide examples of local and regional projects which show how solutions can be executed in practice. Materials from Darel Education will be used to provide additional information related to energy and energy transition. The workshops will be interactive, modular, and adjusted to the audience (age, experience, sector, background).
EV-Overlanding: What does your daughter think about this expedition? And how will you deal with school lessons during the trip?
Marjon: My daughter loves the idea of going back to East Africa and traveling around with me. She loves camping, being outside, and “the unknown route”, also when we travel through Europe. During the trip, I will do “homeschooling” with material provided by the school she currently attends. A volunteer, Eline Sanders, will also join a large part of the trip and will support on this topic too. This way she can join her own class in school when we return.
EV-Overlanding: It sounds like a great plan.
On which internet pages and social media channels will your expedition be covered?
Marjon: In the next months, the website of the foundation (www.climate-connection.org) will be adjusted. It will show the route we will travel and all the planned and completed events, workshops, and project visits with links to the relevant partners. Updates will also be shared on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook (links can be found on the website).
EV-Overlanding: Thanks a lot for the interview. It’s an awesome project. I wish you and your daughter a great time in Africa. It would be great if we could talk again when you have finished your expedition.
All images on this page are copyright by Marjon Castelijns.
EV Overlanding 