At the end of his road trip on Monday, Norman Hajjar had used a little more than 4,000 kilowatt-hours of energy. He drove a Tesla Model S sedan for 12,000 miles over 24 days, crossing 27 states along the way.

The trip was a bid for a Guinness world record for the longest all-electric car trip. It was also a publicity stunt on behalf of electric vehicle technology. "It's a way to draw attention and amplify just how far we've come in electric vehicles," Hajjar tells Popular Science. Hajjar is the managing director for research at Recargo, which makes electric vehicle apps and does research for automakers and other groups. He made the trip with the support of his own company, but no Tesla sponsorship.