On Thursday, 2 February 2011, the container with our cars arrived from India in Bremerhaven and was loaded on a truck bound for Switzerland. Today, the two Think cars pass through customs in Basel and are unloaded at their home in Meiringen. The adventure WAVE India 2011 is now officially over for the Teams Interlaken and Green Destinations!
Looking back on four intensive weeks, we had an extremely rewarding WAVE India campaign. The product “electric car” triggered great interest among people and our team leaves India with great satisfaction. We managed to raise awareness for electric mobility, huge media interest and widespread curiosity for the technological and environmental aspects of electric cars and what it can contribute to future “clean mobility”. Our efforts have been particularly rewarded among the young generation we met at universities and in schools. After our 2,800 km journey (nota bene a distance from Interlaken to St Petersburg), we now have proof that electric cars are a viable alternative to petrol-powered vehicles. One of our key findings is that today’s electric cars are user-friendly, even for people like us who have no specific technical knowledge. So, our message to the Swiss Environment Minister, Ms Doris Leuthard: “leave the black limo in the garage and use an electric car for all road trips!”
Interlaken and Green Destinations wish you a Happy Christmas!
There are so many people to thank who have helped us before and during the WAVE India 2011. First, we would like to thank our sponsors Interlaken, Green Destinations, Oak Foundation, Osec / Swiss Business Hub India, myclimate, Green Development Initiative, and Drogerie Buehlmann.
Also, a huge thank you to the WAVE organisers from Techfest of IIT Bombay, in particular Suparna Gharpure – without your professionalism and enduring help, the WAVE India would never have happened. We are also grateful for the amazing and continuous support by Dominique Monnard and Alexander Tailliar of m-way – they tried their utmost to fix our 2nd car even though these vehicles do not belong to their own fleet.
On behalf of our team members, we can now confirm: India is incredible!!
As the final action, Karel and Till towed the broken car from Pune to Mumbai Port and loaded both cars into the container at Mumbai Port. The cars are on the way back to Switzerland, having survived the WAVE without one scratch. The adventure WAVE India 2011 is over!
Cool meeting on the highway from north Mumbai towards downtown: a taxi drives along our car, the back window opens and a distinguished gentlemen starts shouting “I love your car, I’m a Bollywood director, I know Interlaken, I made movies there, I love Interlaken”, waves and drives off.
Click on category “WAVE Moments” for all the “different” news 
The final day of the WAVE India ends with a reception by Werner Nievergelt, Consul General of Switzerland in Mumbai. The Sheriff of Mumbai and Fabian Stiefvater of the Swiss Business Hub remove the race numbers from our car which marks the official closure of the WAVE India 2011 – thank you very much for carrying out this tradition for our teams!
The joint teams of Interlaken and Green Destinations win the WAVE India 2011! After Franco’s final masterpiece of efficient driving from Pune to Mumbai (including a thrilling downhill coasting from 672 m to 12 m above sea level), our team has proven to succeed in most aspects relevant for an electric vehicle: furthest reach (280 km), most efficient coasting, most comfortable car for long-distance journeys, and best distance-speed ratio. Furthermore, our teams had the best overall ecological balance by having, for example, compensated the CO2 emission of our flights and car shipping by myclimate.
Final stage of the WAVE India 2011 from Pune to Mumbai: our coasting speed record with 110 km/h (coasting is driving in neutral without using any battery power).
While Till is working on the Green Destinations car in Pune, Karel and Franco progress with the Interlaken car from Kolhapur to Pune, only stopping at a college in Satara. Team meeting at the Lemon Tree Hotel in Pune to carefully plan tomorrow’s final stage of 180 km to Mumbai, and to try fixing the 2nd car together. Late at night it becomes clear that our 2nd car has a technical problem that cannot be fixed.
Once again, we are so grateful for the exceptional support by Dominique Monnard and Alexander Tailliar of m-way. You help us enormously with all your advice – the next time we need a Think car, we know where to go…!
Franco and Karel climb up the road from the Goan coast to Belgaum and Kolhapur on 762 meters above sea level. They set another record for Team Interlaken by being the most efficient car uphill (only WAVE car that doesn’t need to recharge on this stage) and covering the 160 km in the shortest time. In addition, Franco sets a new team record in “coasting” (driving downhill in neutral to save energy) with 108 km/h for 5 km!
Till flies to Pune – where the toolkit from Switzerland has finally arrived – trying to fix our 2nd car so that both teams can cross the finishing line in Mumbai on Sunday together.
