Men take an electric vehicle for a record-breaking 35,770-mile ride
Feb 24 (UPI) — Two adventurers set a new Guinness World Record by taking a 97-day, 35,770-mile journey across the United States in an electric vehicle.
Rainer Zietlow, a professional long-distance truck driver from Germany, and Derek Collins began their journey on July 13, 2021 at Volkswagen’s US headquarters in Virginia.
The men drove their Volkswagen ID.4 through 49 states before ending their trip back at the Volkswagen building on October 18.
Guinness announced Wednesday that the trip officially set the world record for longest electric vehicle journey in a single country.
Zietlow and Collins said they visited more than 600 Volkswagen dealerships during the trip and made more than 200 stops to recharge the vehicle’s battery.
“The record not only documents the reliability of the ID.4, but also the actual state of readiness of the charging infrastructure in the USA,” Zeitlow, founder of the event agency Challenge4, told Guinness.
Zietlow and Collins were supported by the HARTING Technology Group during their trip.
“We’re here to prove that whether you’re just driving short distances or on a cross-country road trip, an electric vehicle is an extremely viable solution. The technology is there. The infrastructure is in place,” said Jon DeSouza, Managing Director of HARTING Americas.