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Adventure means different things to different people, but a common theme is the call of the unknown. The Pan-American highway has long proved to be a siren song for adventurers, stretching from the northern most drivable point in North America all the way down to the southern tip of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina.
The typical rig you’ll see on this route is an older Land Rover or Toyota 4Runner kitted out with a few thousand pounds of suspension upgrades, off-road bumpers, winches, tents, and gear. A bold adventurer named Sandro decided to tackle the Pan-American in what might seem like an unlikely vehicle, his Tesla Model X named Beluga.
On his YouTube channel EverydaySandro, he has documented tens of thousands of miles of his adventures where he and Beluga have traveled all around North America, most recently driving up to Tuktoyuktuk. It is the farthest north you can drive on a road in North America and is the northern terminus of the famed Pan-American highway.
Beluga has been Sandro’s home on wheels for the last 3 years, supporting his adventures far and wide. I first met Sandro at the Tesla Takeover in San Luis in 2023, after which a group of similarly minded folks headed off into the hills to camp together for the night.
Sandro built a custom slide-out kitchen in his Tesla Model X with nesting drawers that provide space for an induction cooktop, a collapsible sink, and a water spigot. On top of the kitchen unit, a pantry provides additional storage for dry goods like oats, hot sauce, beans, and the like.
The rear subtrunk has been loaded up with two massive fresh water tanks, plates, bowls, tupperware, and more. A key element of Sandro’s design was to keep the vehicle looking mostly stock on the inside, with the kitchen unit taking up only the room behind the rear seat. The other half of the rear of the vehicle is where his foldable sleeping pad hangs out when not in use.
Moving towards the front of the vehicle, Sandro has a small refrigerator in the rear behind the passenger seat with a bag for fruits hanging from the rear seat. He has clearly thought through every inch of the vehicle layout and continues to optimize it as his adventures continue.
Outside, Beluga looks stock, though a careful eye might notice the upgraded all terrain tires. These were a key upgrade from the low profile stock rims and tires and provided much needed peace of mind as he took on the famed 458 mile / 737 kilometer Dempster Highway from Dawson City up to Inuvik in the far reaches of northern Canada. He was also the first Tesla to ever use Tesla’s Full Self Driving on the Dempster.
As the first Tesla to accomplish that feat, he spent four days charging at Eagle Plains where Beluga took a hit from a rock when a helicopter took off from the parking lot. The circuit he was charging from was technically capable of putting out 16 amps but it kept overheating, requiring him to switch plugs every couple of hours to keep the vehicle charging.
Eventually, he made it to Tuktoyuktuk where he spent a few days before making his way back down the Dempster.
He took a few months to decompress from the intense drive, slowly making his way back south. Along the way, he stopped off at my house, where we installed a custom 250 watt solar array from Mito Solar on the hood of Beluga. The install required two sizable holes to be drilled in the middle, which was one of the more cringe-inducing things I’ve seen in my life.
The solar array runs back to a 2 kWh EcoFlow Delta 2 that serves as his house battery, powering his induction cooktop and refrigerator. Those loads would normally be powered from the Tesla’s battery, so powering those loads from solar is an effective way to extend his range.
I recently spent two weeks traveling along the Pan-American with Sandro, driving along a stretch of the road with very few chargers. While we did pay attention to chargers and kept our options open, it was hardly our primary concern.
Even in Nicaragua where there are only a handful of proper EV chargers in the entire country, we were able to roam anywhere we wanted because even though it is packed with places to go and things to see, it’s a rather small country so range is rarely a concern.
Sandro is relentless with his planning for the Pan-American trip, learning about each border crossing, recent speed limit changes (like Nicaragua’s new national 50 kilometer per hour speed limit), stocking up his tool kit, and buying the proper insurance for each country. Again, while charging is something he does pay attention to, it’s far down the list of real concerns, even on an epic global expedition like this.
Sandro has custom tailored just about every aspect of Beluga to suit his lifestyle and it truly has emerged as one of the most prolific electric adventure vehicles in the world.
He’s currently in Central America where he’s preparing to ship Beluga across the famed Darien Gap, starting his adventures in South America. Ultimately, he plans to drive to the southern end of the Pan-American in Ushuaia, Argentina.
To follow along with Sandro and Beluga’s adventures, head over to his YouTube Channel, EverydaySandro, or on X.
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