BA - The Club - Charley Boorman’s epic electric drives

Ushuaia, Argentina to Torres del Paine

Driving from the southern point of Argentina to the Torres del Paine in Chile was truly amazing. The west side is mountainous and rugged, while the other side is pampas-strewn and barren. To get to the Eco Camp where we stayed and charged up, the roads get pretty twisty, but it was really beautiful. The camp sits in front of Cleopatra’s Needles (a triad of mountainous outcrops), which have a way of making you feel very small and introspective! It’s also completely self-sufficient, running purely on solar and hydro-power.
Charley’s travel tip: Look out for herds of llamas. With an electric bike, they’re not so scared by the noise so will just stand there and look at you. They have these beautiful eyes with big, long lashes that blink very slowly.

El Calafate, Chile to Villa La Angostura, Argentina

This particular route was sparse and gravelly for the longest time and really put us to the test, but then it completely transformed once we hit the Andes. We followed all these incredible bodies of water with extraordinary mountains reaching up beside us. The whole place is a master class in high drama. We rode up to this beautiful town by the lake – Villa La Angostura – and it was just stunning. The town sits right on the waterside and was the first place we’d come to that had a real buzz to it, which was quite surprising. You could spend a whole day riding around the area, soaking it all in.
Charley’s travel tip: Wrap up warm. It gets chilly in the Andes, even in the summer.

Copacabana, Bolivia to Machu Picchu

Peru was a real highlight of the journey. We drove around the Western side of Lake Titicaca from Copacabana and up to the town of Chucuito to see this incredible Incan site, the Temple of Fertility, then on through these gorgeous mountainous valleys full of red rocks and desert scrub to a condor sanctuary in Cochahuasi. We stayed in Ollantaytambo that night and took the train up to Machu Picchu early in the morning, which was breathtaking, even in the rain. Not to mention that Peru has so much delicious ceviche!
Charley’s travel tip: Use Google Maps to save the places you love as you go so you can share your findings with others later.

Puerto Fronterizo Cd. Cuauhtémoc to Oaxaca

This stretch of southern Mexico was one of the nicest journeys we did on the whole trip. The weather was great, the temperature perfect and the landscape outrageously beautiful. We stopped in Chahuites to have a home-cooked Mexican meal and learned how to make guacamole, then went to the coastal town of Tehuantepec. Though a little touristy, Oaxaca itself is really beautiful. It’s got a huge amount of history to it. We ended up staying, and charging, in Quinta Real Oaxaca Mexico which was a treat – it’s an old converted monastery and a really extraordinary place.
Charley’s travel tip: Stop by rooftop restaurant Pitiona. It has an amazing view of the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán and serves delicious food.

El Paso (border) to LA via Willcox and Palm Springs

The terrain up from the Bridge of the Americas (where we crossed into the US) to Scottsdale was really open and beautiful. There were cacti everywhere. We stopped in Willcox, Arizona, and woke up to frost covering everything, before heading on to this awesome hotel in Scottsdale: Mountain Shadows Resort. We had our first fast charge outside Walmart and within 30 minutes we were almost 90 per cent – it was unbelievable. The charge points in America are super-fast and really are just about everywhere.
Charley’s travel tip: The Tesla 3 with the extended battery range is fantastic for long road trips. You just put the details into the dashboard and it tells you where and when to stop. It’s very clever.