Bravo, Curt Langan. The ex-motorcycle racer has just completed another astounding feat - travelling clockwise around the UK on an all-electric Zero S in 21 days, covering over 5000 miles in 21 days and spending just £18.69 on leccy.
Zero’s S motorcycle is an 11kW production model capable of recharging in around 2 hours from the free 7kW charging points, and notably can be ridden on a CBT licence from 17 years old.
Further, the S remained relatively stock for the challenge, fitted with a few factory accessories and practical modifications: like a USB charging socket and gel seat pad, vital for any iron butt attempt.
Covering up to 300 miles per day, Curt set off south of the Humber Bridge on September 9th and surprisingly faced little to no adversity along the way - a rear puncture in South Wales pinned as the most troublesome event. “I still managed 250 miles that day but had to keep stopping at garages. I spent more on air that day than I did on electricity!” says Langan.
An all-electric Zero S challenge success!
“The charging infrastructure is definitely there.” continued Langan. “Chargers are in out of the way places but in most towns you have two or three places to charge and a few times I found brand new posts which had just been put in and weren’t even on the apps.
“I found the Tesco chargers, run by Pod Point, to be the best, they were easy to find, reliable and completely free to use. In my whole trip I only found one charger that was out of order and, even then, there was a working one right next to it.”
Speaking on the route taken, considering it’s a lower capacity machine, Curt said “I rode mostly on B roads and unclassified roads. Typically I was getting between 120 and 130 miles between recharges, although one day I saw 160 miles in Cornwall thanks to the battery regeneration I was able to get going down the hills.”
Dale Robinson, Zero Motorcycle’s UK Country Manager, added “We’re really proud of Curt’s achievement and believe he’s the first person to circumnavigate the island with an electric vehicle of any kind. The purpose was to show that not only are our electric motorcycles capable of racking up the miles, but that it’s incredibly easy too. Curt spent a couple of weeks living with the bike before undertaking the journey and quickly adapted to EV best practices.
"He was able to take advantage of free charging at supermarkets and at his overnight stops, where he was able to plug into a regular wall socket, and amazingly the total cost of electricity he had to pay for was just £18.69!”
Check our review of the Energica Eva Ribelle if you want more electric goodness.
Fair play to Curt, a top achievement that he can add to his collection - including his 5000-mile rail journey to Russia, and his challenge to reach the most northern, southern, eastern and western points of the United Kingdom by bicycle.
Interesting that this happens just as the country experiences petrol and diesel problems...
