today, again, we need to split up, since the “big battery” cars are still charging and want to have enough time to fully charge their batteries before setting out and then have enough time to charge the batteries at the first stop in satara.

the “small battery / fast charging” battery cars, Reva and TWIKE head off to a local college in kolhapur at 0900 and are greeted by an amazing crowd. this especially since it is saturday and this is a non-mandatory event for the students.

massive interest, as usual :)
massive interest, as usual 🙂
packed hall at kohlapur college!
packed hall at kohlapur college!

the student interaction part was inside a packed hall. lots of interest and one of the best events so far.

after that we get into our cars and make our way out of kolhapur towards satara.

en route to satara
en route to satara

the road is quite good with the occasional bad patch. this gives us more time to look at the surrounding landscape which is beautiful. back on 600m altitude we climb hill after hill, just to descend on the other side. for us this is no problem at all, since the TWIKE is a champion at rolling!

down, down, down...
down, down, down...
friendly burning of ... whatever
friendly burning of ... whatever

in satara, we are invited to charge (first time @32A in india!) and then head off to have some very tasty curries for lunch.

jc waiting for his curries!
jc waiting for his curries!
feel good food
feel good food

the student interaction here is somewhat smaller than in kolhapur, but nevertheless, we can spread our message.

welcome to satara college
welcome to satara college
satara college phone installation
satara college phone installation
satara college student interaction
satara college student interaction
WAVE India, analogue version
WAVE India, analogue version

from there onwards we stay on a good road and make good time towards pune.

en route to pune - just outside satara. vibrant colors
en route to pune - just outside satara. vibrant colors
temperatures... elevated, but ok.
temperatures... elevated, but ok.
finally a worthy team TWIKE WAVE india picture
finally a worthy team TWIKE WAVE india picture
maximum typo forcefield active!
maximum typo forcefield active!
first glimpse of the pune plateau
first glimpse of the pune plateau
waiting at the toll plaza - incognito!
waiting at the toll plaza - incognito!
down to the pune plane
down to the pune plane
en route to pune
en route to pune

we hit evening traffic in pune as we cross the city. air quality is very poor.

these are the moments where we see that it is high time to change something here. we’re not conviced, however, that the indian standard person actually knows something is wrong, since this is his reality and he does not know pristine air and environment conditions…

we arrive at our hotel – the best of all the WAVE quality-wise until now. after some dinner at a very nice and small restaurant around the corner we get back to our rooms and settle in for the night.

tomorrow is the last stage of WAVE india. the two weeks have gone by in a whirlwind of impressions. it will take some time and having another look at the pictures we took (all 24gig of them) as a team to really come to grip with what we saw and experienced!

i will be attending the WAVE end party at the consul general’s house and will depart from there directly to the airport where my plane back to zurich will be leaving around 4am. the other WAVE team members will stay on to re-export the vehicles again and get them safely tucked into a container.

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