after staying at the shopping centre overnight, we retrieve the cars at 11am and set off on our first official WAVE india 2011 stage! the stage will take us to pune, a city on a plateau about 600m above sea level about 130kms from mumbai. it takes ages to get out of mumbai. when we reach the outskirts, traffic lightens up immediately and thanks to good road surfaces are able to get a decent average speed. the climb itself is impressive. the road takes us from about 30m above sea level to about 800m. the other cars stop for a good hour to recharge […]
first day on official duties
we got back pretty late from customs. mumbai inner city traffic was very dense (we shall learn today, however, that the traffic we got to know was “light” traffic, according to locals, and now, after the fact, us, too!) for today, we are scheduled to attend a press conference and show our cars at a mall. we plunge back into bombay traffic. it is very dense but unlike european traffic, everyone looks out for the fellow driver. thanks to google and our indian sim, we easily find our way to the bombay press club. first journalists arrive and we are […]
releasing the twike from customs
after arriving at iitb at around 830am i decide that i will not go to sleep but rather stay up and try to sync to indian time the hardcore way. the 4 hours 30 minutes time difference to switzerland are quite noticeable. we head out to customs and a very long while later we arrive and meet our agent, john. entering customs free zone, we proceed to our container. the container looks very interesting, since there are cables coming from it and going into the local power distribution centre. the cables and the installation itself looks very dodgy. but interestingly […]
mumbai, 1st contact
touchdown mumbai 0450. did’nt get any sleep but still wide awake. got off plane and progressed though customs and immigration for over an hour. the sheer amount of people trying to get through customs is staggering. furthermore, being in india and all, queuing is part of life – it’s just interesting to see all the people from all walks of life trying to enter the country. be it the indian business man in a crisp suit (even after 8 hours of flight) or the european hippy heading off to you know where – every one of them is treated with […]
2nd TWIKE team member arrives
wow, time flies when you’re working hard and preparing at the same time… november 30th, 10am i leave from zrh to istanbul after an uneventful flight i settle down in the lounge and start working again. my communication setup works very well, routing swiss mobile calls down to a skype instance running on my computer. was on the phone for more than 2 hours and no caller suspected anything. leaving istanbul later that evening, we took off over the city and were treated to a very nice view of the bosporus – the gateway to asia. landing is scheduled for […]
TWIKE arrives in Mumbai
MSC Maureen has completed its voyage – the TWIKE has arrived in Mumbai! check out TW560’s exact position here. During the WAVE, TW560’s GPS position will be continuously updated and displayed in the sidebar on the main page and on the detailled page in various zoom levels.
1st team TWIKE member leaves for India
jean-claude left for india yesterday morning, together with most of the other swiss wave participants. i will be adding pictures as soon as jean-claude has uploaded them. since msc maureen is due in mumbai port tomorrow, they will try to get to the cars in the container as soon as possible. there are technical reasons for this: unlike the TWIKE, both think city and the clio rely on high temperature natrium-cloride batteries, which after a good month in the container are back to ambient temperature. in order for them to even start to accept any charge, they need to be […]
Hello visa! (& other musings)
process excellence! just a few days after i applied for the visa, i’ve got it back! here we go. ready for all the fun india has to offer! i’m really impressed by the indian visa process after being treated to much worse service the world over! something else came together on friday, too: my international driving license was issued! whilst musing about what else i need, how about some cool bumper stickers for the TWIKE… or… even better, for my fellow electric car drivers: the trusted “hybrids are for pussies” sticker which has been adorning my TWIKE for the last […]
techfest – TWIKE makes appearance
stumbled across the techfest website a minute ago and liked the fact that the TWIKE was mentioned in the first banner rollover. if you click a little further you will find a detailled description of the tour. there are many workshops i’d love to participate, but, alas, i will be not only one of the last to arrive, but also one of the first to leave india, since my company earns about a quarter of their yearly earnings during the last few weeks of every given year. and as a regional sales manager…well, you get the idea. 🙁
india, i’d like a visa, please
quick update: finally, i got the requested information from the sponsors in india regarding my flight to india. this means that i can finally go to the embassy and apply for my indian visa. it is quite interesting, that i, as a uk citizen do not get any preferential treatment regarding visas – unlike hong kong for example. anyways, after parting with 138 CHF, the visa center in berne accepts my application and i can wait for louis palmer to complete his visa application with walther. today, i really am in a hurry: leave home at 6, meeting in berne, […]