If you ever wondered if there were alternative ways to charge a Tesla, you now have your answer. A Finnish TV show has conducted an experiment where cyclists were used to charge the battery of a Tesla Model X, and it worked.
Finnish television show Ennätystehdas rounded up nine cyclists in attempt to harness their peddling power to charge a nearby Tesla Model X. Over the course of about 20 minutes the cyclists produced about 1.2 kW of power, which was fed into an EV charger.
By the end of the test this equated to about 2km of charge. That’s a lot of effort for so little pay off. Considering that it took nine people to achieve this outcome it’s probably safe to say that you won’t be able to use your solo at-home work out to juice up an EV anytime soon.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/04/teslas-just-got-more-expensive-in-australia/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/tesla.jpg” title=”Teslas Just Got More Expensive In Australia” excerpt=”Tesla’s range is already expensive in Australia thanks to import fees, a hefty luxury car tax and a range of other additional costs depending on the state or territory you live in. Looking to deepen the hole in your wallet that little bit more, Tesla’s now increased the price in the country.”]
However, it’s still pretty cool to see alternative forms of green energy being used to power a car — even if it is a little reminiscent of a Black Mirror episode. Hopefully we will see more proper initiatives in this space in the new future that can actually be used on scale.
In the very least it would be great to see more government incentives for EV adoption in Australia over the next few years. Not slamming them with luxury car tax, which is gauged by fuel usage, would be a good start.
You can watch the experiment below, which has been condensed into a quick two-minute clip.