The organisation of the Tour de France is committed to sustainability and Tour Director Christian Prudhomme is now driving a 100% electric Enyak SUV from sponsor partner Škoda on most of the stages to attract media attention. On long and difficult mountain stages, however, Prudhomme climbs back into a hybrid Superb, whose combustion engine is designed to ensure that he does not break down with an empty battery.
Three teams with electric cars at the Tour de France 2024
The teams show that it is perfectly possible to cover such distances with an electric drive dsm-company PostNLUno-X Mobility and EF Education EasyPost. All three teams drive purely electrically during the race, i.e. with the two authorised cars of the sports directors. The logistics with the vehicles are sometimes a challenge, as the cars have to be fully charged at the start and there is not always a charging station near the team hotel.
Range of electric cars not the problem
But the range is not really a problem if the batteries are fully charged. "The mountains are not a problem at all, because we drive very slowly uphill and can recharge the batteries a little on the way down," explains a spokesperson from the dsm-firmenich PostNL team, who compete in the races with a Volvo XC 40. Long, flat and therefore fast races such as Milan-San Remo would be more difficult, as this is where consumption is highest due to the wheels on the roof.
However, the EF Education EasyPost team is not worried about the range, but rather that their car will also fit through the sometimes narrow passages on the starting grid. The Cadillac Lyric, of which the team has three, may have monstrous dimensions, but it has a huge battery with a range of up to 500 kilometres.
TOUR at the Tour de France: Exclusive live blog
Jens Klötzer
Editor
