Road Trip | Vienna to Arctic Circle in Electric Car

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I love Norway. It’s one of the most amazing countries I’ve ever been to. In 2017, I decided to visit my beloved Norway yet again. But this time, I wanted to do it a bit differently.

I wanted to start from Vienna and drive all the way to the Arctic Circle. And I wanted to do it in a 100% electric car.

Ultimately, it took us almost 14 days and more than 8500 purely electric kilometers. It might not seem like much but that’s the same distance as between Vienna and New York.

It still amazes me the car was basically powered by the waterfalls we saw on the way and wind. Thank you Tesla for making these stunning cars. It’s almost like they’re coming from the future to save our planet!

Our trip in numbers:
• 8500km —14 days — 6 countries
• overall consumption 1,5 MW, with an average of 184Wh/km
• 0€ paid for electricity (we saved up to 650€ on gas, thanks to Tesla’s free charging stations. (Thanks Elon!)
• 0€ paid for highway tolls (in Norway they are free of charge (is this a pun?) for electric cars)
• 35 charging breaks (about 20-25 minutes each)
• saved approximately 950kg of CO2

The plan was to make around 6000 km but after 14 days on the road we ended up with more than 8 500 purely electric kilometres.

Did you know that Sweden has beaches?

Skanör beach with its colorful cabanas in Sweden

The population of Moose in Sweden is around 300,000 so you have a pretty good chance to meet at least one.

Sweden is home to nearly 100,000 lakes, so it’s no surprise that people fish everywhere

Nice to meet you again, Norway!

For hundreds of years houses in Norway have been covered with turf. The Norwegian translation is “torvtak”, which means “turf roof”. These roofs have many advantages, from maintaining regular temperatures within the dwellings to actually stabilising the houses themselves. Every year, since 2000, the board of the Scandinavian Green Roof Association has granted an award to the best green roof project in the region!

Innerdalstårnet or Dalatårnet, or simply Tårnet i.e. the Tower is a 1,452 metre tall mountain on the south side of the Innerdalen valley

Traditional “falu red” cabin in Innerdalen - Norway’s most beautiful mountain valley

My “cabin obsession” is getting real. I have more than 200 pictures of cabins from my Norwegian trip. I bet you can’t wait to see them all!

Top of the Trollstigen or The Troll’s road in Norway

Trollstigen is one of the most dramatic mountain roads in Norway. It has a steep incline of 9 percent with 11 hairpin bends as it snakes its way along the steep mountainside to Stigrøra, 858 meters above sea level. The road is closed between late October and the end of May

Because straight roads are too boring!

Oldedalen surrounded by the Jostedalsbreen (glacier) National Park

Morning at Oldevatnet (lake)

Secret cabin in the middle of nowhere. Getting here will take you at least one hour :)

Norway has a very elongated shape, one of the longest and most rugged coastlines in the world and around 50,000 islands. All in all, Norway's coastline has 101 000 km of twisting land - which, as National Geographic points out, would circle the world two and a half times if stretched out.

The Atlantic Road in Norway, known as Atlanterhavsveien in Norwegian, is just the most scenic route one could imagine. The road’s roller coaster-feel, curvy bridges, and phenomenal views have made it the world’s most beautiful drive. The road was opened in 1989 and it was hit by 12 hurricanes during construction. Driving this road was one of the highlights of my road trip to Arctic circle.

Norway is a country of fjords. Some of them stretch for over 200 km and some are more than 1200 meters deep. Norwegian fjords are so surreal that you feel like you are dreaming instead of actually seeing them.