Australian Electric Bicycle Sets Seven-Day Distance Record

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Allan Lear and team stand in front of Brirdsville Pub after setting electric bike record

What better time than now to enter significant events for green transportation into the Guinness Book of World Records?

Allan Lear, the CEO of Australia’s Hahn Environmental Services, has broken the Guinness record for the “Longest Distance Traveled by Electric Bicycle in One Week.”

Lear pedaled some 1,012 miles through the Australian outback, riding a modified “Stealth Bomber” e-bike.

In order to set such a record, Lear was required by Guinness officials to travel a minimum of 1,200 kilometers (745.6 miles) during a seven-day continuous time frame – a distance he easily surpassed. Of interest, the used e-bike was converted to run on ethanol produced from food waste that was collected from local businesses. The now green-colored pedal-driven car features two rooftop wind turbines that fuel an exchangeable battery bank.

“The wind turbines charged everything including the bike batteries, our CB radios, even our mobile phones,” says Lear. “It was a very efficient system, and the mini certainly brought us a lot of attention along the way.”

Lear set off from the company’s head office in Landsborough in Queensland at 7:20am on August 25, riding a Stealth Bomber electric bike that had been prepped to have a longer battery life, along with more rugged tires and suspension.

The bike’s onboard electric hub motor was able to deliver 200 watts of power, with each of the four battery packs averaging around 80 kilometers. Lear reports that he achieved speeds of over 25 mph with extra effort on the pedals and an occasionally helpful tail wind.

Lear and his team, which also included a few support riders, arrived in Birdsville on August 31 after traversing some “really rugged terrain.”

“We traveled some very rough terrain and had our share of challenges with flat tires, bad weather, road trains, wild animals and met some interesting characters along the way,” reports Lear.

Money raised from sponsorship and donations is being donated to environmental charity Greenfleet, for planting hundreds of trees.

Lear’s video diary from the carbon neutral trip can be viewed on his personal blog.

On his blog, Lear penned these words at the end of the journey: “Arriving sore and very tired just after 4pm on 31 August, having endured days of dust, aching muscles, and very harsh conditions.  The boys will all look forward to a cold beer and a good pub meal at the Birdsville Hotel!”

Congratulations!

Photo: HahnEnviro


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Glenn Meyers

is a writer, producer, and director. Meyers was editor and site director of Green Building Elements, a contributing writer for CleanTechnica, and is founder of Green Streets MediaTrain, a communications connection and eLearning hub. As an independent producer, he's been involved in the development, production and distribution of television and distance learning programs for both the education industry and corporate sector. He also is an avid gardener and loves sustainable innovation.

Glenn Meyers has 449 posts and counting. See all posts by Glenn Meyers