Brussels to Slovenia in RX 450h

Being a technology junky isn’t easy. The hottest advances in this field tend to occur in dark, secretive recesses of university labs, military bunkers or computer geeks’ bedrooms – not exactly the kind of places I hang out. So I’m resigned to the fact that the closest I can expect to get to the birth of tomorrow’s world is by flicking through science magazines such as Wired. That’s where I recently came across a story about electric aircraft being the future of aviation, heralding a true revolution of the skies. One outfit is leading the way, announced the article, a small manufacturer based in Slovenia called Pipistrel who are producing an aircraft that can travel 1,000km in a day helped by batteries that recharge like a mobile phone.
What the heck. I fire off an email – any chance I could drop by? After all, I am due to pick up the new RX450h from Brussels for a test drive, so it would merely be a 1,200-kilometre detour southeast across Europe. I told you I was a junky. What’s more, taking Lexus’ cutting-edge hybrid of the road to meet its soul mate of the air sounds like the ultimate blind date. A message pings straight back – yes of course I can I visit. The boss of the company already drives an RX400h, so we’ll have plenty in common. Who says coincidences have no place in science?
The prospect of spending all day on motorways tends to depress me, but the RX450h is like a softly-spoken psychologist where that lower-case ‘h’ could stand for hypnotherapy. My treatment starts in suburban Brussels where the car’s two electric motors immediately take silent control, and it’s as if the vehicle is quietly waiting to listen to my anxieties. It works a treat. By the time I join the motorway I’m imbued with optimism and have barely noticed the smooth transition to engine power. Actually, my positive state of mind can be put down to many things – starting with the elevated driving position, which helps the car’s sumptuous, limousine-like ride transform the mundane into something quite epic. And like a head of state, I have an extra willing hand to do my bidding – the ingenious Remote Touch on the central console – that saves me stretching out to direct the sat-nav. So as I cruise regally down the autobahns, the 3.5-litre 24-valve V6 engine supplying impressive surges of overtaking speed with a mere prod of the accelerator, I start to feel quite otherworldly, like a perfectly smooth pebble skimming quietly for mile after mile across the surface of a gigantic pond, landing every few hours to take a break for refreshment.
An overnight stop in the Austrian town of Villach marks the end of motorway driving and allows for daylight entry into Slovenia early next morning – and an opportunity to fully appreciate the highlight of this grand tour, the Vrsic Pass across the eastern Julian Alps. Also sharing borders with Italy to the west, Croatia to the southeast and Hungary to the northeast, not to mention a short stretch of Adriatic coastline, there are many access routes to this tiny country, but at 1611m the Vrsic Pass is the highest and most spectacular of them all. Originally built in 1915 by Russian prisoners of war to supply the Soča, or Isonzo Front – one of the bloodiest yet less well-known fronts of World War I, fought between Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces – the pass dominated this campaign that features so dramatically in Ernest Hemingway’s semi-autobiographical novel A Farewell to Arms.
I’d been expecting a battle of sorts of my own with this road. With some 50 precipitous hairpins, each one cobbled, and saw-toothed peaks rising on every side, it’s a treacherously narrow switchback ride that can test any vehicle. Yet despite its size, the RX450h hugs the twisting road with the reassurance of a sports saloon, the 67bhp electric motor powering the rear axle to deliver secure four-wheel drive handling with minimal body roll. Meanwhile light touches on the regenerative brakes are sufficient to bring reassuring sharp responses and the speed of the fully electric power steering swiftly irons out each hairpin. 
The summit conquered, I follow the descent of the Soca River that winds in milky turquoise bends down through steep glacial valleys of the Triglav National Park. With the sunroof open, I enjoy listening to a symphony of birdsong, tumbling rapids and the swooshing branches of beeches, spruces and hornbeams, and it takes me a moment to realise how unusual it is to hear such sounds while still driving. The power-charge dial in front of me explains everything – the engine is stopped and the electric motors have taken over once again.
So as I finally swoop down south from Alpine heights into the softer rolling terrain of Slovenia’s Vipava Valley, it strikes me as natural to be heading towards the grassy airfield of Pipistrel’s headquarters – where better for such a silent glider as the RX450h to touchdown?
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