After exploring the surroundings of Mirleft, we returned to our campsite in the late afternoon.
Soon after, Silvia and Ayoub arrived at the campsite. They will accompany the EV teams to Dakar and have planned to install charging infrastructure along the way at important waypoints.
They are using a Renault Austral Hybrid instead of an EV for our tour to Dakar.
Ayoub, an experienced electrical engineer and charging expert, immediately started inspecting the charging infrastructure on the campground.
Only single-phase charging is possible at the Erkounte Camp. But at least they have blue CEE connectors enabling 16A charging.
The following image shows the necessary adapter. It’s available both for Juice Booster and NRG Kick.
While charging our cars, we enjoyed the late afternoon sun and relaxed atmosphere.
In the late evening, the two missing teams arrived at the campground.
Altogether, 4 EVs will be trying to reach Dakar: a Tesla Model X, a Kia Niro, a Ford Mustang Mach-E, and my Audi Q8 e-tron. Besides the Kia, all cars have 4WD.
The Kia is driven by Friedwart (Germany) and Astrid (Austria), the Ford by Doris (Austria) and Thomas (Germany), the Tesla by Hans (Switzerland), and the Audi by me.
Since Silvia wanted to use this tour as a test drive for future events, she also brought her starting arch that she uses for her Rallye events in Morocco.
As a side trip, we had planned to explore the Ksar Tafnidilt. It’s a beautiful Kasbah, located 6.2km away from the main road.
At the start of the track, the Mustang team put their tour stickers on their car.
Since some sections on the track to the Ksar Tifnidilt are soft sand, we reduced our tire pressure by about 1bar.
Hans also prepared his sand boards and towing rope in case someone would get stuck.
The track was easy to drive, at least with 4WD.
The Renault and Kia only have Front Wheel Drive. But with enough momentum, they got through the sand sections without getting stuck.
Doris decided not to drive the track in the Ford Mustang due to its very low ground clearance.
Since we did not have enough space in the other cars to transport two additional people, Silvia ran the 6km (she regularly does triathlons, so not a real challenge for her). But her old but very cute dog, Bayda, wasn’t really happy about her idea and vastly preferred a ride together with Thomas in my Audi.
We reached the Ksar without any problems. There are actually two buildings there. One modern one, built in 2000, which is currently used as a hotel and campground, and a historic fort which was built around 1935 by the French colonel Trinquet to control the smuggling activities in this area.
We first visited the modern Ksar.
It’s a beautiful building with friendly hosts. We had a quick lunch break there.
If you have more time, it’s recommended to spend a night there. There is no electricity available there to charge our cars. So we had to continue to another place.
After the lunch break, we drove to the nearby historic fort.
It’s located on a small hill. The ruins can be explored by yourself and are worth a quick stop.
Then, we drove back to the main road.
Doris was happy that her Ford Mustang was still there waiting for her.
After raising the tire pressure, we continued to El Ouatia.
Along the road, we saw a sign showing us the distances to some of our upcoming destinations. Only 2107km to Dakar, not that far, but likely full of adventures and challenges.
Just before sunset, we reached El Ouatia, also known as Tan-Tan Plage. It is one of Morocco’s major fishing ports. We had planned to spend the night at Camping Equinox.
The roof of the campground building was a great place to enjoy the sunset.
At the entrance of the camp, there is a Type 2 Kilowatt charger installed, which we used to charge the Mustang.
For the other cars to charge, Ayoub temporarily connected a box with 3 32A CEE connectors to the main 3-phase outlet of this place. All cars should be fully charged the next morning.
About half of our team slept in their cars, while the other rented a room for the night.
EV Overlanding 