Electric journey to dunes of Sahara

A fleet of electric Škoda Enyaqs set off an adventurous drive through Morocco, reaching the world’s most famous desert via a unique solar power plant. Take a look!

20. 3. 2024 eMobility

The two-day adventure allowed the drivers and passengers to experience both the breathtaking beauty of the surrounding countryside and the challenges of the local roads. But the Enyaq 85x all-wheel drive cars made light work of all the unforgiving obstacles, proving once again that their driving and handling qualities, range per charge and comfort on long journeys, even on less than ideal road surfaces, are up there with the best.

This remarkable expedition highlighting Škoda’s passion for innovation and electromobility, was organised by Škoda UK, the Czech car brand’s UK importer. A group of journalists and influencers took turns behind the wheel of the electric SUVs on their gruelling 700-kilometre journey through the rugged Moroccan landscape.

Škoda Enyaqs on their Moroccan adventure

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There were two special guests on this desert drive: a pair of Dutch adventurers who previously drove an Enyaq around Africa with the help of a folding solar charger. You can read all about the extraordinary experiences of Renske Cox and Maarten van Peel in a two-part report on Škoda Storyboard magazine (parts one and two).

Among the participants were Renske Cox and Maarten van Pel, who have already crossed the Sahara.

Noor Solar Power Station – the biggest solar complex in the world

One of the stops on the journey was the Noor Solar Power Station. Built by the Moroccan government, this gigantic and spectacular installation generating electricity from sunlight supplies electricity to over two million local homes. It generates around 580 megawatts of power from a combination of photovoltaic solar panels and an array of parabolic mirrors, 7,400 of them in total. Each as big as a tennis court, these mirrors work on the principle of concentrating sunlight and thus heat onto a set of pipes on a 240-metre-high tower. A special oil-based thermal medium flows through the pipes. Heated to a temperature of 390 degrees Celsius, this converts water into steam, which drives a set of turbines that generate electricity.

Covering an area of roughly 2,500 hectares, the power station has high thermal stability: reservoirs full of a liquid or molten salt solution allow it to continue generating electricity even eight hours after sunset, i.e. twenty hours a day. In total, the mirrors can make use of around three thousand hours of sunlight a year. The Noor power station is the biggest and most powerful installation of its kind in the world.