Last weekend I attended the e4 Testival at the famous Hockenheimring race track. It’s an event about electric mobility. You can do test drives with electric vehicles on the race track and join lots of interesting presentations and discussions about mobility throughout the event.
The organizer of the event asked me a couple of months ago if I would like to hold a presentation about adventure travel with electric vehicles, and I happily agreed.
The event started on Friday with a professional visitor day. In the late afternoon, we all met at the Porsche Experience Center, located next to the Hockenheimring, for a couple of very interesting discussions, moderated by Christian Clerici.
On Saturday, the event was open to all visitors, and everybody had the chance to test drive different electric vehicles.
I first tried the Hyundai IONIQ 9, a vehicle also suitable for overlanding, in my opinion.
It features a 110 kWh battery, 4WD, and ample interior space. The ground clearance is 17.5cm. Not great, but sufficient for many tracks.
The Kia EV9 was also presented at the e4 Testival. It is based on the same E-GMP platform as the Hyundai IONIQ 9, but has a smaller battery of 99.8 kWh.
The ground clearance of the Kia is 17.7cm, very similar to that of the Hyundai. Personally, I prefer the design of the Kia.
For me, the most interesting car at the event was the KGM Musso EV. KGM is a relatively unknown brand from Korea. But it is based on SsangYong, which was renamed to KGM in 2022 due to a new company structure and ownership. SsangYong has built well-known ICE 4×4 vehicles in the past, like the Korando and Rexton. KGM has recently released a fully electric pick-up truck, the Musso EV.
The Musso EV has a ground clearance of 18.1cm, an 80.6 kWh LFP battery, a payload of 800kg (500kg on the cargo bed), 4WD as an option, 414hp, and V2L capability. Battery size and ground clearance are not great, but the price of the vehicle is very attractive (around 45,000€ in Germany). It is much cheaper than any of its competitors, like the Maxus T90 EV or eTerreon9.
I’ve driven the Musso EV on the Hockenheim race track and liked its driving behavior. But the real question is: how good is it offroad? So far, I haven’t found any test reports about its 4WD and traction control performance under challenging conditions. If you can live with the limited range of the Musso EV and its likely limited offroad capability, it could be an interesting, less costly option for overlanding trips.
Another interesting EV at the event was the Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally.
It has a 91 kWh battery, 487hp, MagneRide suspension, 20mm higher ground clearance than the standard Mustang (but is still very limited with only 13.4cm), and some additional protection plates under the electric motors. It also has some beautiful, special rims.
The Mustang Mach-E Rally would not be my first choice as an overlanding vehicle, but it’s definitely a cool car.
A Tesla Cybertruck was also shown at the event, but, as in Fulda, a test drive was not possible.
In addition to all the brand new cars, some older electrified vehicles could also be found. Two stunning electrified Porsche 911 gained a lot of interest.
This electrified VW T2 was completely self-built. It has a 92 kWh battery and a large solar array on the roof that can collect up to 30 kWh of energy in one day.
But there were not only electric cars presented at the event. You could also explore electric motorbikes and even an electric plane.
Last but not least, a VW XL1 could be found.
It’s not a BEV but a plug-in hybrid with a small diesel engine combined with an electric motor. Only 200 vehicles were built between 2014 and 2016. The goal was to make a car with an energy consumption below 1 liter per 100 km.
As mentioned above, I got invited to hold two presentations at the e4 Testival.
The first one was about my adventure trips with an electric vehicle to Karelia, the Western Alps, the Pyrenees, Iceland, and the Erg Chegaga in Morocco.
It was a combination of showing images from the trips and giving useful information about the road conditions and charging infrastructure. For illustration, I often used the PlugShare map.
My second presentation was more about the technical aspects of Overlanding with an EV. It included tips about selecting the right vehicle, choosing the right equipment, and planning a trip to remote destinations.
Sadly, not a lot of people joined the presentations. Most visitors preferred to do test drives with the EVs on the Hockenheimring instead. But my audience was very interested in the topic, and I got some positive feedback after my presentation.
Another presentation in the travel session was done by Sylvia. She was giving some information about the Rive Maroc Rallye 2024 (which I also attended). Directly after her presentation, she started on another trip to Morocco with her Tesla Model 3 to attend this year’s Rive Maroc again.
For the first time at the e4 Testival there was also a special camp area for electric vehicles. I parked my Audi Q8 e-tron next to the VW ID.4 of Didi-on-Tour. For camping, he brought a small trailer.
And he even drove one round with his ID.4 and the trailer on the famous Hockenheimring.
In addition, there were two Tesla Model 3 and one ID.Buzz at the camp area.
The interior of the ID.4 was completely self-built with a sensible layout.
Altogether, it was an interesting event and I connected with a couple of interesting people whom I hadn’t met before. Some of these contacts might lead to some interesting collaborations in the near future.
EV Overlanding 