Electric Community Event 2025 in Fulda

Last weekend, 2700 EV enthusiasts gathered in Fulda, in the heart of Germany. The event was organized by Timo Schadt and the elektrische COMMUNITY.

I attended the event with my Audi Q8 e-tron and will provide a brief summary, with a focus on overlanding and camping.

A couple of car companies showcased their newest fleet, like Xpeng, Nio, and Hyundai.

The new Ioniq 9 could be an interesting option for overlanding with lots of interior space, 4WD, a 110 kWh battery, and a ground clearance of 17.5cm.

There was also a designated parking area for EV enthusiasts presenting their cars. Nearly all of them were sports cars with lowered chassis and striking graphics. So, rather the opposite of what a typical overlanding vehicle would look like.

Some of them were built for the racetracks, like the above Tesla or the Xiami SU7 Ultra with its 1548hp, shown below.

For me, it was also the first time seeing an MG Cyberster in real life.

In addition to all the high-power sports cars, there were also some tiny, lower-power cars presented.

The other extreme regarding size was the eActros of Elektrotrucker Tobi (who also participated in the Rive Maroc Rallye one year before me).

But let’s move on to some cars and people more in line with my overlanding focus.

David from Tesla Camper auf Reisen is traveling together with Franzi full-time in their Tesla through Europe. They are rarely off-road with their car, but otherwise did some very interesting trips. It’s worth following their YouTube channel. David was showing their FrunkBuddy kit for cooking in the frunk of a Tesla at the event.

Interesting was also the large camp area with all kinds of vehicles and camping setups. Only EVs were allowed there.

An interesting and rare combination was an Opel Rocks-e with a small ground tent (YouTube channel: on the rocks-e).

Another car worth mentioning was a Ford F-150 Lightning with a Dux Camper Traveller on its truck’s bed.

And of course, there were a couple of ID.Buzz at the event. One of my favorite EVs at the moment.

Kerstin from Thousandlanes was also in Fulda with her beautiful ID.Buzz. She is thinking about selling her car and starting a new project. I hope she decides to keep it a bit longer and make some good use out of it. It’s a stunning car, predestined to explore some remote tracks in the world.

I also stayed in the camp area with my Audi Q8 e-tron.

Tesla had brought a Cybertruck, but test drives weren’t possible. Nevertheless, the truck attracted a lot of visitors. As expected, the opinions about the Cybertruck were very divided.

I’m sure that the Cybertruck is a very capable vehicle. But I couldn’t imagine using one for overlanding. Its look is far too flashy and aggressive. I wouldn’t feel good at all driving with such a car through poor countries in Africa or Central Asia.

Another very capable offroad vehicle at the event was the Dongfeng M-Hero I.

It’s a direct competitor to the Mercedes G580 EQ with some impressive specifications like 36cm ground clearance, 90cm wading depth, and 1088hp.

There is an interesting backstory about me and the event: Months ago, this convention in Fulda was completely off my radar. Then I heard about a photography competition in the T&E magazine for their next cover image. They were looking for an image of a Tesla car, and I participated with my shot of a Model S in the dunes of the Erg Chegaga in Morocco. And I won the competition, as you can see in the image below.

The winning prize was a free ticket for the Fulda event, including camping and barbecue. I still wasn’t 100% convinced since I thought it would be mainly a Tesla meeting. Then I read a little bit more about the event and also talked to the organizer, Timo Schadt. The announcement that there would be an offroad track directly at the event finally convinced me. While talking to Timo he told me that he has zero offroad experience and urgently needed someone to coordinate the offroad track at the event. As I have lots of experience, he asked me if I would be willing to take over this task. I agreed and suddenly had a new job for the weekend in Fulda. Of course, completely voluntarily and unpaid, besides free tickets (which I already had from the photo competition). But it’s always fun to accompany people on their first steps away from paved roads. So I was really looking forward to it.

I arrived one day earlier at the location and used this day to prepare the offroad track. I secured all dangerous areas and marked two different tracks.

A blue one for vehicles with a ground clearance of at least 16cm (e.g. Tesla Model Y or VW ID.4).

And a black one for vehicles with a ground clearance of at least 21cm (e.g. Tesla Model X or my Q8 e-tron).

Saturday morning, everything was ready and signs led to the starting point of the offroad track.

My Q8 e-tron was parked next to the track, equipped with recovery straps and Maxtrax boards in case someone would get stuck with their car.

Before starting the offroad drives, Christian from Wie immer Christian did a short interview with me about my car. You can find it below:

The main idea of the offroad track was that it could either be used by visitors using their own cars (after a detailed instruction and signing a waiver) or for test drives with cars provided by car companies.

Sadly, neither Tesla nor Xpeng was allowing their test cars on the track. But at least one company was willing to take the risk: Nio. Their EL6 has only 165mm of ground clearance, but managed to get through the blue parcours without any serious problems.

Not many visitors were willing to drive the track in their own car. The first one daring it was a Smart #5 Brabus (with a ground clearance of 190mm).

The blue track was easy for the Smart.

At one point, where blue and black tracks are next to each other, the Smart even tried to enter a deep mud pool belonging to the black parcours.

He nearly managed to get through, but the front spoiler would have ended up scratched, so he reversed.

Next was a Tesla Model Y (ground clearance 172mm).

The blue parcours was also easy for the Model Y.

After finishing the blue track, he tried a short section of the black one.

But as you can see, if a hiltop is too steep, the ramp angle (defined by ground clearance and wheelbase) sets the limit.

Finally, just before sunset, two Tesla Model S with air suspension (ground clearance 160mm) dared to enter the offroad track.

I was really surprised that the Model S, with its long wheelbase, had absolutely zero problems on the blue track.

During the whole day, I helped 60 people to get safely through the offroad track. No accidents happened, and all cars remained intact after driving through the parcours. Since nobody dared to drive the black parcours with their own car, I used my Audi Q8 e-tron (ground clearance 230mm) a couple of times to drive interested visitors as passengers through the challenging black track.

The event finished with a Tesla Lightshow on Saturday evening.

Altogether, it was a good event. I met some interesting new people and answered many questions about my car. On the other hand, the main focus of this event was clearly not offroading or overlanding. Most visitors and participants were primarily interested in racecars, tuning, or standard road cars. For me, overlanding conventions like the Adventure Southside or the Abenteuer Allrad are probably more in line with my interests and my target group.

The next EV event I will attend is the e4 Testival at the Hockenheimring. I will give two presentations there about overlanding with electric vehicles. It will take place on the 18th of October.

I have 10 free tickets to give away for the e4 Testival. All you have to do is subscribe to my Instagram account and send me a DM on IG if you want a ticket. The first 10 people will get the code for a free ticket.