This might be the coolest Nissan Ariya that will ever exist. It’s an extensively modified version of the EV that will drive more than 17,000 miles on its way from pole to pole — with 39-inch BFGs and a custom espresso machine.
Driving from the North Pole to the South Pole will be a first. Not just for an EV but for any vehicle. According to the expedition team, no person or vehicle has ever made the trip, so this is extra ambitious.
With Nissan sponsoring the attempt, you might expect the team to drive one of the company’s more notable off-roaders. The legendary Patrol (sold here as the Nissan Armada) or even a Titan would be a much more natural choice. But the team is using the Nissan Ariya to show off just what the electric model can do.
Pole-to-Pole Nissan Ariya
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The custom-built Ariya is going to use the standard electric driveline as it comes from Nissan. That gives the crossover 87 kilowatt-hours of battery capacity and an estimated range of about 270 miles. Crucially, it will be a dual-motor model, so the team will have the e-Force all-wheel-drive system they’ll need in both the muddy and frozen parts of the drive.
Ariya’s 270-mile range estimate might be nothing more than a dream for this particular adventure rig. That’s because it has needed some serious range-sapping upgrades to help it deal with terrain all around the world.
The 39-inch tires from BFGoodrich are probably the biggest ones ever fitted to any EV short of a mining truck. That’s a lot of weight and a lot of leverage for the electric motors to work against, but the team has plenty of experience with that, which we’ll get back to.
To fit the big wheels and tires, the Ariya got a tall suspension lift. There are also huge fender flares to cover the wider rubber. The Icelandic polar experts at Arctic Trucks helped out with the suspension mods to make sure the Ariya was up to the task.
BYOC: Bring Your Own Charge
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Experienced Electric Adventurers
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One of the things that underpins all the adventures we do is that we take a standard production EV and aim to make minimal changes to clearly demonstrate its real, everyday capabilities, regardless of where you are driving it.
Chris Ramsey, Expedition Leader
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