Sydney retiree Ed Darmanin is nearing the end of what is believed to be the first electric-motorcycle ride around mainland Australia, a roughly 18,000-kilometer (11,200-mile) trip across remote stretches where towns can be scarce and carrying a spare battery is not an option.
Here's what to know
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Darmanin, a 67-year-old retired electrical engineer from Sydney, began the trip on June 24 and traveled anti-clockwise on his Energica Experia, stopping in every mainland state and territory. By the time he reached Victoria's Gippsland region, he was on the final leg back to Sydney.
For Darmanin, the trip was as personal as it was technical.
"To be first was something I've wanted to do for years," he said. "I really wanted an adventure, a challenging adventure.
He said the hardest part was planning, not riding, because an electric motorcycle leaves little room for carrying backup power the way a conventional bike might carry extra fuel.
"You can't carry a spare battery; that's just built into the bike. It's sort of like carrying a spare engine on a normal motorcycle, you just can't do it," he said.
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So he mapped each segment of the journey around DC fast chargers that worked with the bike, the same type used by many electric cars.
Speed made those calculations even more important. Darmanin said that with luggage on board, the bike could go only about 160 kilometers (99 miles) at 100 km/h (62 mph), despite some stretches between chargers reaching 260 or even 300 kilometers (162 or 186 miles).
"If I sat on 110km/h compared to 75km/h, at 110 you use double the energy or double the fuel," he said.
More background
This was not Darmanin's first pioneering electric motorcycle ride. According to ABC News, he had previously become the first person to cross Australia on an electric motorcycle and later rode from Sydney to Darwin through Birdsville.
The conditions were not always favorable. Headwinds on the Nullarbor Plain added two days to the trip, and some parts of the route offered almost no margin for error.
"When you leave that town, it's 260km until you get to the first roadhouse, and there is absolutely nothing between those two spots," he said.
Where can I learn more?
Darmanin's ride also points to the bigger questions around electric transport and charging. Related coverage looks at a shape-shifting electric bike, Australia's EV market, off-grid charging, major battery storage, and everyday charging costs.
• Designers unveiled an electric motorcycle that transforms into an e-bike or moped for city trips.
• In Australia, Mazda says the country's EV boom relies heavily on subsidies and fleet demand.
• Beam Global introduced an off-grid charging platform that can travel almost anywhere e-bikes do.
• In New South Wales, developers gave Australia's first 8-hour battery the go-ahead with Tesla Megapacks.
• One EV owner showed how affordable it is to recharge at a Tesla station.
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