CANNONBALL INTERNATIONAL EV ROAD TRIP SERIES

The Cannonball International EV Run™ series is for battery or hydrogen fuel cell powered electric vehicles (any zero emission vehicle) that are based on ordinary production vehicle running gear and must be capable of carrying a passenger. They may be solar assisted, provided that the solar panel area does not exceed four square meters - a rule that may be relaxed as we learn from experience. See the full Cannonball EV rules HERE.

These rules are designed to promote the development of an international EV infrastructure, as a means of accelerating the transition from IC engines to clean electric motors, especially in countries that do not have abundant sunshine, where support for non-solar assisted electric vehicles is all the more important.

Map of the Trans-Japan Cannonball International EV Run

AOMORI to KAGOSHIMA - TRANS-JAPAN CANNONBALL EV RUN SUGGESTED STOPS

GOOGLE SUGGESTED ROUTE - Driving directions  (This route has tolls)

AOMORI - JAPAN

KAGOSHIMA - JAPAN

CANNONBALL INTERNATIONAL OFFICIAL ROUTES

  ABOUT JAPAN

Japan (Japanese: 日本 Nippon or Nihon; formally 日本国 About this sound Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally "the State of Japan") is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why the country is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands, the four largest being Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Together, these four islands hold about 97 percent of the country's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with more than 126 million people. Honshū's Greater Tokyo Area includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures. It is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with more than 30 million residents.

Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is found in Chinese texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. Japan evolved into a cohesive society during the Heian period (8th-11th centuries AD). From the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military dictatorships or shogunates in the name of the Emperor. In the early 17th century, Japan entered into a long period of isolation, which was only ended in 1853 when a United States fleet pressured Japan to open to the West. Nearly two decades of internal conflict and insurrection followed before the Meiji Emperor was restored as head of state in 1868 and the Empire of Japan was proclaimed, with the Emperor enshrined as a divine symbol of the nation.

Periodic insurrections and civil disturbances continued into the 1870s. A modern constitution was promulgated in 1889 and a Western-style parliament established. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victories in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. From 1931, military expansion into China and Manchuria led to the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Japan allied itself with the Axis powers in 1940, and the war in China became part of World War II in 1941. While Japan initially enjoyed a period of military dominance, successive military defeats and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the end of the war in 1945, Japan's surrender and the loss of its empire. Under Allied military occupation lasting until 1952, Japan dissolved and restructured its military, adopted a revised constitution in 1947 and became a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and a democratically elected legislature.

A major economic power, Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the world's fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer. Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the fifth largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. According to Japan's health ministry, Japanese women have the second highest life expectancy of any country in the world. According to the United Nations, Japan also has the third lowest infant mortality rate.

AUTOMOTIVE

Japan's exports amounted to US$4,210 per capita in 2005. As of 2012, Japan's main export markets were China (18.1 percent), the United States (17.8 percent), South Korea (7.7 percent), Thailand (5.5 percent) and Hong Kong (5.1 percent). Its main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, electronics, electrical machinery and chemicals. Japan's main import markets as of 2012 were China (21.3 percent), the US (8.8 percent), Australia (6.4 percent), Saudi Arabia (6.2 percent), United Arab Emirates (5.0 percent), South Korea (4.6 percent) and Qatar] (4.0 percent).

Japan has a large industrial capacity, and is home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles, and processed foods. Agricultural businesses in Japan cultivate 13 percent of Japan's land, and Japan accounts for nearly 15 percent of the global fish catch, second only to China. As of 2010, Japan's labor force consisted of some 65.9 million workers. Japan has a low unemployment rate of around four percent.

TOYOTA was the largest automobile manufacturer in 2012 (by production). In July of that year, the company reported the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. Toyota is the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year. It did so in 2012 according to OICA, and in 2013 according to company data. As of November 2013, Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan by market capitalization (worth more than twice as much as #2-ranked SoftBank) and by revenue.

HONDA has been the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001. Honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world behind General Motors, Volkswagen Group, Toyota, Hyundai Motor Group, Ford, Nissan, and PSA in 2011.

Since 1986, Honda has been involved with artificial intelligence/robotics research and released their ASIMO robot in 2000. They have also ventured into aerospace with the establishment of GE Honda Aero Engines in 2004 and the Honda HA-420 HondaJet, which began production in 2012. Honda has three joint-ventures in China (Honda China, Dongfeng Honda, and Guangqi Honda).

In 2013, Honda invests about 5.7% (US$ 6.8 billion) of its revenues in research and development. Also in 2013, Honda became the first Japanese automaker to be a net exporter from the United States, exporting 108,705 Honda and Acura models while importing only 88,357.

LINKS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan

http://www.mile-to-km.com/km-to-miles.php

http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/

http://www.discovery-campervans.com.au/adelaidedarwin.php

http://www.familyonabike.org/other%20info%20pages/awards.html

http://www.endtoenders.co.uk/

https://maps.google.com/

VAUXHALL AMPERA endurance ev attempt 2010_ampera_e-revs

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_27-5-2010-12-26-15

http://www.formaplex.com/news/formaplex-launches-electric-car-world-record-attempt/

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/31/racing-green-endurance-srzero-electric-car-to-make-16-000-mile-t/

http://www.rideacrossbritain.com/packages/end-to-end/

http://www.discoveradventure.com/challenges/land-s-end-to-john-o-groats-cycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land%27s_End_to_John_o%27_Groats

An event for adventure capitalists

It's about time we had an EV compatible with battery or hydrogen fuel cell technology. The Ecostar DC50 by Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd may well be the vehicle that changes all that.