On Saturday, a group of German and French students who call themselves the Pilgreens arrived at the Paris Climate Conference, after completing a 20,000km journey in an electric Tuk Tuk.
To celebrate their arrival they organised a parade through Paris starting from Place de Breteil and were accompanied by a large number of electric vehicles and a parade of 10 electric Tuk Tuks.
The Pilgreens Tuk Tuk journey started after the group became acquainted with the noisy and polluting Tuk Tuks in Bangkok.
Looking for a way to help ease the burden on the environment they enlisted the team from the Tuk Tuk Factory, a Dutch manufacturer of electric Tuks and the idea was born.
The green students decided to take the challenge of driving almost 12,500 miles (20,000km) from Bangkok to Toulouse, their home city. By arriving at the Paris Climate Conference, they wanted to show the world that electric powered transportation is viable.
The journey started earlier this year in Bangkok and the Pilgreens embarked on the epic journey halfway across the globe. Their adventurous route took them through Eurasia’s rain forests, deserts and 3,800 meter-high mountain passes. Despite the inhospitable terrain the electric Tuk Tuk encountered, no significant technical problems occurred.
“We are really happy to see the quality and fun-aspect of the eTuk proven by this fantastic undertaking,” said Karen Koulakian from the Pilgreens,
“We are happy to support the Pilgreens in this great initiative, and we are proud that our eTuk is holding up so well in these extremely harsh conditions. We actually don’t make our vehicles for rally purposes,” said Roland Vos, Director of Tuk Tuk Factory.
Apart from a bigger lithium battery pack and a solar panel, the eTuk Limo is a standard production vehicle. Where normal gasoline powered Tuk Tuks stay within the city perimeters, this electric eTuk Limo has a huge range of 350km.
After the parade in Paris, the Pilgreens have now continued their journey to their home town of Toulouse.
