Here’s the link to the Apple web page about the show. I’ve watched all the available episodes so far.
Apple TV+ unveils first look at “Long Way Up,” starring Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
After riding motorcycles east in 2004 from London to New York in “Long Way Round” and south in 2007 from Scotland to Cape Town in “Long Way Down”, friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman decided to do a trip from Ushuaia to Los Angeles in 2019. But this time they wanted to try doing it with EVs, and decided to use prototype Harley Davidson “LiveWire” bikes and prototype Rivian trucks, which is the part that I thought might intrigue you.
If you don’t have access to Apple TV+ you won’t be able to view the show, though perhaps in the future it will be available through other channels.
I heard about their trip last year during filming and I thought it sounded a bit insane; they were using prototype EVs in a part of the world that barely has an electric infrastructure and where the roads can be marginal at best. How will they handle breakdowns (because there will be breakdowns) and charging?
It turns out that Rivian installed over 150 Juicebox L2 chargers along the route (according to the show) though apparently not enough to cover many segments of the trip, particularly in remote parts of Patagonia where there is no grid at all (I’ve spent some time in Patagonia and that is definitely the case). There was also a gas-powered support van with a generator and some solar panels on the roof. Harley provided a portable charger of some type (it is not really explained). And the Rivians were configured to provide V2G in such a way that the bikes could be plugged into the trucks, I think. It is unclear whether that was possible while the trucks were charging or only when they were off grid.
But the riders and the team started out the trip laughably unprepared with seemingly only a minimal knowledge of the basics of EV charging. And even more incredibly, Harley shipped the two bikes to Ushuaia with an L1 charging capability that was so unreliable they advised against even using it, instead giving the riders an L2 (I think) charger that was so large it could not be mounted to the bikes (on some days the bike riders would be on their own with no support team). The look on Ewan McGregor’s face when it was presented to him was one of total incredulity. The start of the ride was delayed by several days for Harley to ship an undescribed part to the team to install after which the company representatives decided that L1 charging would work satisfactorily. Very odd.
Of course L1 charging the 15.5kWh battery in the bike would take a long time at 120V and maybe 12A at best, as the riders soon found out. They had only spent about an hour with the bikes in Milwaukee before the trip and seemed to know nothing about charging times if one is to believe the portrayal in the film, and neither did the support team that was traveling with them. The result was the first several days of the trip, during winter in Patagonia, they had all kinds of problems. They had no idea as to how cold temperatures would effect charge rates and they struggled to do even 100 miles in a day.
In addition, the two Rivians are portrayed as being barely prototypes that were finished just in time and did not have any level of serious road testing before being shipped to Ushuaia (a place my wife and I have spent a few days in, by the way; “unremarkable” would be the kindest description). Their center consoles had a big box with massive colored buttons for functions like gear selection and controlling charging. Nothing like what a finished vehicle would look like and the production team members who drove them during the trip had no EV experience beforehand.
All of this resulted in a comedy of errors and miscalculations. So far only the first 6 episodes are available, but during those episodes they have managed to make it to Bolivia and according to online descriptions of the show they did get to Los Angeles.
I suspect that the film editors did their best to make the bikes and trucks look their best, and McGregor and Boorman did like the way the bikes rode, but plenty of difficulties are portrayed, and probably plenty were left out. One that was shown, and my favorite so far, was when one of the trucks rear brakes locked up and it would not move. They took the wheel off and tried to force the caliper off the disc. I’m thinking “It’s probably a software glitch and if you do free that caliper you will destroy the brake”. Eventually they figure out how to reboot the vehicle and the caliper disengages.
Despite all their travails, I found the show very entertaining because McGregor and Boorman are such good sports, love each other’s company, are respectful and appreciative of the people they meet along the way, and deeply enjoy the adventure. Plus they are clearly onboard with the EV movement. I look forward to watching future episodes.
