The team consists of four Brazilian professionals in the fields of photography, journalism and cinematography. The main goal of the group is to set the record for the distance of 25,000 km, across the three Americas, with the Palio Weekend Elétrico, produced by Fiat in partnership with Itaipu: a Brazilian car that is 100 percent electric. In addition to the record, the Brazilian team will also produce a documentary project that will include a cultural and geographical overview of the people found along the route, checking the conditions of the Pan American route - the highway that connects the North, Central and South America.

Using a 100 percent electric vehicle was the idea of the journalist Paulo Rollo, director of the project, which invited Fiat and Itaipu to be his partners. Along the course, passing through 15 countries, the Fiat Palio Weekend Elétrico will face enormous geographic and climatic diversity. The most challenging will certainly be a variety of surfaces on which they will run: from perfect asphalt to paving that is extremely precarious, through earth, gravel and even on ice and snow. At the same time, the team will have to face altitudes from sea level up to 5,000 meters in the Andes. The temperature variation will be impressive 60ºC: from -15°C to 45ºC in the equatorial zone.

In the name of greater autonomy, Palio Weekend Elétrico was stripped of everything that consumes energy not vital for its operation. “We will not have air conditioning, power steering, power windows or sound. We are in a project that has an important goal that is to prove the capability of this technology which can be so important for us in a very near future. So we have to make small sacrifices in the name of achieving this goal”, says the journalist heading the project.

Itaipu and Fiat sought a solution in line with sustainability. For the Palio Elétrico project, they tapped into the Swiss Zebra – zero emission battery research activity. Using salt ions, it is 100 percent recyclable and greener than those of lithium. Currently, all electric vehicles still face a common problem, which is the time to recharge the batteries. In the case of the Palio Weekend Elétrico's battery, fully recyclable, the equipment requires 8 hours for a full recharge and the autonomy is just over 100 km.

The countries included in the route will be the USA, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. For the expedition could actually bear the name "Zero Emission", WayCarbon joined the project. Consultant of the environmental segment, the goal is to build a thorough inventory of all the climate impact that the trip will generate and neutralize all greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by planting trees.

Plascar, is another partner of the expedition. The company provided the Palio Weekend Elétrico with new front and rear bumpers developed and produced with 100 percent recyclable materials, with incorporation of up to 20 percent natural fibres obtained from the cooperative of farm workers, replacing the use of petrochemical materials (nonrenewable resources).

Fiat Palio Weekend Elétrico

Technical Data

Engine: Asynchronous Triphase Electric
Nominal Power: 15 Kw (20 cv)
Maximum Power: 28 kw (37.8 cv)
Nominal Torque: 50 Nm (5.1 kgfm)
Maximum Torque: 124 Nm (12.6 kgfm)
Fuel: Electric Power
Battery: Sodium – Nickel - Chloride
Voltage: 253 V
Power: 19.2 Kwh
Recharge Time: 8 hours
Gearshift - Number of gears: drive, neutral and reverse
Traction: Frontal
Brakes - Service: Hydraulic brake with command pedal
Frontal: Disc Brake (Ø - 257 mm) with floating calipers
Rear: Drum Brake (Ø - 228 mm) with self-adjusting shoes and automatic adjustment of set
Front Suspension: MacPherson with independent wheels, lower transverse swing arms, stabilizer bar
Shock Absorbers: Hydraulic, telescopic w/ double effect
Elastic element: Coil springs
Rear Suspension: With independent wheels, lower transverse swing arms and stabilizer bar
Shock Absorbers: Hydraulic double acting telescopic
Elastic element: Coil springs
Tires: Pirelli P1
Weight - in running order: 1,380 kg
Payload (with driver): 310 kg
Vehicle’s Length: 4,237 mm
Vehicle’s width: 1,639 mm
Vehicle’s Height (empty): 1,504 mm
Distance between axles: 2,437 mm
Front gauge: 1,418 mm
Rear gauge: 1,420 mm
Maximum speed: 100 km/h
0 to 60 km/h: 9 seconds
Average autonomy – Mixed urban / road circuit: 120 km