A Resolution for 2009: Around the World in an Electric Bike
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 12. 5.08
Guim Valls Teruel is almost ready to go. His goal: Travel all 5 continents on an electric bike. The project is called the Electric Bicycle World Tour. Guim decided to choose this alternative form of personal transportation to promote the use of cleaner energy and the non-reliance on fossil fuel. According to him, one person has never done this before. However, many people can participate in this “one kilometre – one hope” sponsorship program set up by an NGO, by showing solidarity and hence become part of the tour. So why go electric?
In recent years, electric motor and battery technology has advanced tremendously. Today’s LEVs (Light Electric Vehicles) have numerous advantages over fossil fuel powered vehicles in the areas of performance, ease of use and operating costs. (electricbicycleworldtour.com)
The advantages of going electric are numerous: low carbon footprint, no burning of fossil fuel, no exhaust fumes (so better air quality everywhere), no noise, clean machines (no grease or oil to get to get your hands dirty), cost efficient (since you don’t have to pay rising fuel prices) and speedy enough to enjoy long journeys without trouble.
Guim, originally from Spain, has been using his electric bike for almost 2 years, ever since he moved to Beijing, and wouldn’t part with it. He says that thanks to his electric bicycle (a dream his father shared), he had the opportunity to explore the most undiscovered corners of this huge city. And now he’s off to see those of 5 continents via 2 Olympic and a candidate city: Beijing, London and Madrid.
The Electric Bicycle World Tour will visit projects around the world that also fight global warming, and produce videos about their work to promote them. After all, Guim, who seems to be one of those people who are happy doing many different things at the same time, studied audiovisual design and sound technology amongst other things. So contact Guim if you want him to visit you on his world tour.
There is definitely an interesting link between Sports and Environment, something UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) picked up in 1994 when incorporating awareness of the environment into the Olympic Games together with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Now it’s the Electric Bicycle World Tour’s aim to strengthen the bond between these three Olympic-related cities. The same 3 cultures that Guim experiences throughout his life, and to which cities he wants to give something back and show his gratitude by incorporating them into this international project.
The Electric Bicycle World Tour will start in May 2009 in Beijing, China, and is scheduled to end in August 2012 in London, UK. In the meantime, Guim is busy fundraising and figuring out a way to charge his electric bike via solar power instead of plugging it into the main grid. (Check out this solar powered electric bike) TreeHugger will definitely report back on the performance and adventures of Guim and his electric bike. For now, check out the web site ElectricBicycleWorldTour.com for news, technical details about the bike, the route and many other interesting facts around electric biking. Thanks Gerard M. for the tip! ::Electric Bicycle World Tour
More on Electric Bicycles:
Schwinn's electric bicycles
Solar powered electric bike
Sanyo's electric hybrid bike
Freedom DX electric bike
Electric bike sharing program
Wall Street Journal reviews electric bicycles
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This is a great first. As an avid electric bike user myself I can imagine the thrill of silently breezing from city to city and country to country on such a tour. I guess there will be plenty of stops - unless you set an e-bike on its minimum power setting, the range is only about an hour of peddling before you have to recharge. Great for commuting, maybe less great for round-the-world tours (unless battery technology has evolved considerably since I bought my Bionx kit two years ago).
This story is great, good luck to him! I would love to do something like this, however I do wonder if he aware that there are infact 7 continents not 5.
I see that his route misses Antarctica altogether (perfectly understandable being that he's on a bike), leaving 6 continents that he does travel through. Is he counting Europe and Asia as one continent or South and North America as one continent?
As impressive as "Tour all 5 continents of the globe using an environmentally friendly method of transportation" sounds, surely saying "Tour all 6 inhabited continents" sounds both more impressive and more accurate.
This is fantastic to see. I have been riding my IZIP electric for about two years and it has changed my life. I recently purchased for my wife, on of Currie's lower priced models the EZIP Trailz and she absoultely loves it too. We plan on a long tour during our summer vacation. The thought of a world tour is very interesting. See http://www.izipusa.com/ for details on these affordable ebikes.
I hope he is planning on either taking a boat or a barge to travel among all the continents. Since this is an environmentally friendly trip, I'm sure he does not want to travel by air.
There are seven continents ... at least proof read your first sentence - you're on the front page of digg.
I also think its amusing that he's travelling through countries that probably have completely un-green methods of producing their power, not to mention the US alone. I'm unsure how he expects to charge his bike by solar, given the current state of photovoltaic cells.
Everyone touting electric cars is just displacing their guilt since the place they are living doesn't get polluted, but the place the electricity is generated likely is. We need clean coal, cleaner-burning gasoline cars, and safe nuclear energy for us to be successful as a race.
The corporations keep telling us we don't need solar or electric vehicles really. We just need the USDA to release their newest form of biofuel: http://tinyurl.com/6rfgca
Yeah, that should work out splendidly.
The only way to get around anywhere is by bicycle. What a great story too! I built my own bike, maybe i can attach a battery to it :P
For the nay-sayers, this trip is entirely doable, and I hope to meet the rider as he comes through Australia!
I did an eBike ride from Melbourne to Sydney last year in 10 days, www.suitabletransport.com - it was a tough slog to do as a group because of technical issues with the number of people, but proved the concept is sound and technology is constantly improving so should be even easier now. More media attention needs to be given to this form of transport which really is the most environmentally friendly option we have.
Why exactly is this a great idea?
Electirc bikes... sigh... Why not a human powered bike? Oh right... no one would care about a guy travelling the globe on a regular bike with an environnmental message... or would they.