EV truck sets altitude world record

One of the advantages of electric trucks – or EVs of any type – is that they’re not affected by the thinner atmosphere that impacts the performance of internal combustion engines at high altitude. As evidence of this, a team backed by Austrian transport and logistics specialists Gebrüder Weiss, along with other partners, recently took a solar-powered four-wheel drive truck to a new altitude world record for an electric vehicle.

The Swiss ‘Peak Evolution’ team set the new world altitude record for e-vehicles on the western ridge of Chile’s Ojos del Salado – the highest active volcano on earth – reaching 6,500 metres above sea level in s a specially-prepared Terren 4x4 truck.

“This is a record not only for this technology, but for our years of research work and for the very future of mobility,” said Patrik Koller, CEO and developer at Peak Evolution. “We hope that this success will attract more attention to alternative drives and their use in mining and other demanding transport tasks.”

As logistics partner and main sponsor for Peak Evolution, Gebrüder Weiss has been on board with this project from the beginning. Not only did they ensure the compact Terren 4x4 truck arrived safely in South America, they also co-financed the innovative venture.

“We are committed to the future of mobility,” said Frank Haas, Head of Corporate Brand Strategy & Communications at Gebrüder Weiss. “This success underlines our ongoing support for sustainable mobility projects and innovative technologies. We are delighted for the team.”

Gebrüder Weiss transported the e-truck from Switzerland to Rotterdam and then by sea to Chile. Another overland transport took the solar truck to the country’s Atacama region. There, Peak Evolution started the e-vehicle record attempt at the Maricunga salt lake, with the first exploratory tours and acclimatisation on Ojos del Salado at an elevation of 3,400 metres.

Challenging terrain and environmental conditions on the world’s highest volcano that included steep inclines on loose rock, traversing a glacier and extreme cold put the high-tech EV to the test and placed the driving team under extreme physical and mental strain, too.

“Despite these extreme conditions, our specially developed vehicle managed to drive higher than any other e-vehicle – let alone a solar-powered one,” Koller explained. “We have been training for this moment for four years, so giving up was never an option.”

At the end of November, after 16 days of driving, the three adventurers and their Terren truck broke the record for e-vehicles, surpassing the 6,000-metre barrier. That was the first milestone. One week later, the team reached 6,500 metres above sea level – the record goal for their mission - using nothing but solar power.

With the EV world altitude record in the bag, the Peak Evolution team headed back to Switzerland, with Gebrüder Weiss ensuring that the record-breaking vehicle also made it safely back to Europe.

Since then, Gebrüder Weiss’s support of forward-looking projects has included a dress rehearsal of the Austrian Space Forum’s Mars mission, testing an autonomous truck and sending an international research team to Greenland to gain insights into climate change.