Not just for show
Nissan has teamed up with Arctic Trucks, a specialist in building arctic vehicles, to clean up an Ariya. Not because it’s trendy, but because the car can prepare for a special adventure. A married couple will travel from the North Pole to the South Pole on the Ariya-with-off-road tires, starting next month. The journey should take about 10 months. To charge the Ariya, the two tow a trailer with a folding wind turbine and solar panels.
As for raising and off-road proof making cars that are actually intended for asphalt, we can now speak of a trend. Volkswagen already did the trick with an ID4 GTX, Porsche and Lamborghini are even taking such cars – in the form of the 911 Dakar and Huracán Sterrato – into production. Where the Volkswagen was nothing more than a finger exercise, Nissan does the same trick with an actual goal. His Ariya can prepare itself for an adventure from the North Pole to the South Pole: a journey of about 27,000 kilometers across the American continents.
From deserts to icy plains, the Ariya – of which a computer-drawn concept has already appeared – must conquer all kinds of terrain. That is why Arctic Trucks, builder of polar vehicles, fitted the chassis. Other springs and dampers with much longer travel, 39-inch off-road tires and a partly sawn-away body to make things fit are the result. Other than that, the Ariya is as good as standard. So are the four-wheel drive system, the battery and the motors.
27,000 kilometers in 10 months
To cover the 27,000 kilometers, it has to be recharged quite often. Especially since the Nissan also carries a trailer with it. It is equipped with fold-out solar panels and a wind turbine, so that energy can be generated anywhere. Furthermore, the Ariya has an espresso machine on board and the roof rack not only carries additional lighting, but also a landing pad for a drone, so that the ride can be recorded from the air at all times.
The ride must be completed after about ten months and will start in March. The team that performs it consists of a married man and woman. It is not the first adventure that the couple has embarked on with an electric Nissan: in 2017, the couple already drove the 16,000-kilometer Mongol Rally in a Nissan Leaf.
The Nissan Leaf with which the Mongol Rally was held.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl