Charge Around The Globe: Lexie and Ford Explorer take on Chile’s Atacama Desert

Asia had been a vibrant and colourful adventure, now Lexie and the Ford Explorer head into the fifth continent of the journey with a very different prospect looming large; Chile’s arid Atacama Desert. The desert is the driest nonpolar desert on the planet and has been an experimentation site for Mars expedition simulations due to its similarities with the Martian environment.

Leaving the bustling city of Santiago, the striking beauty of the surrounding mountains immediately hits, as does a sense of anxiety about the lack of charging infrastructure in the almost 500 kilometres journey ahead to La Serena. Keeping an eye on the Explorer’s range, the loss in kilometres on the steep inclines is concerning, yet regaining kilometres on the descents gives Lexie some reassurance.

The journey from La Serena the next day to Copiapo is even more challenging, with no charging infrastructure enroute and the Explorer’s range indicator providing only a 30-40 kilometres safety net. This is the smallest buffer Lexie has had to deal with in possibly the worst environment, where a breakdown would leave her stranded in a hot desert with no shade. And an attempt at lunchtime to extend her range with a portable solar panel battery charger only adds 2-3 kilometres after almost 40 minutes.

Fortunately, the Explorer and Lexie make it with a mixture of careful driving, sparing use of electrics and making the most of descents for regeneration. The following day, Lexie decides it’s time for some fun and meets up with champion sandboarder, Constanza Albayay. Constanze fell in love with snowboarding while studying in the United States, so decided to replace snow with the sand dunes of Chile when she returned home. She gave Lexie a quick lesson and talked about how she has a goal of making it an Olympic sport, before Lexie was brushing herself down and heading back on the road.

In Taltal, further north, Lexie faced a major charging dilemma. The domestic charger she was using for the Explorer had a varying charging output with a potential 20-hour charge turning into what could be a 66-hour wait. With a tight schedule that was a delay that could create a scheduling nightmare, so a new compromised route that reduced the kilometres driven and time driving by two hours was taken. The situation highlighted not only some of the charging challenges but also the precision needed in a journey like this and how the ability to adapt and persevere are crucial.  

By the time she was leaving San Pedro de Atacama, a popular hub for people exploring the Atacama Desert, Lexie and the Explorer had overcome what was possibly the toughest leg of the journey yet. Anxiety at the beginning of the journey has turned to confidence in being able to navigate challenging terrains and slow charging times in the Explorer. And with her fastest border crossing so far as she entered Argentina, the road to Buenos Ares can be viewed with renewed positivity.

You can follow Lexie and the Ford Explorer’s Charge Around the Globe at Ford News Europe’s X, Instagram and YouTube as well as at Lexie’s Instagram and YouTube. Or simply follow the #ChargeAroundTheGlobe hashtag.  

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