Retiree nears end of 18,000km Australian journey on electric motorcycle
Retired electrical engineer Ed Darmanin is nearing the end of an 18,000-kilometre journey around mainland Australia on an electric motorcycle. The 67-year-old has had to plan charging stops carefully, slow down to conserve energy and manage stretches of up to 300 kilometres between services.
Retired electrical engineer Ed Darmanin is nearing the end of an 18,000-kilometre journey around mainland Australia on an electric motorcycle. The 67-year-old Sydney man began the anti-clockwise trip on June 24 and has visited every mainland state and territory. He is now travelling through Gippsland in eastern Victoria before returning to Sydney.
Darmanin is understood to be the first person to complete the journey around mainland Australia on an electric motorcycle. He said the aim was to undertake a difficult adventure and achieve an Australian first. The trip has required careful calculations because the motorcycle has no spare battery.
Darmanin has planned routes around DC fast chargers, sometimes reducing his speed to ensure he can reach the next charging point. He said the bike could travel about 160 kilometres at 100km/h on a straight, flat road while carrying luggage, but some stages were 260 kilometres and others reached 300 kilometres. He said travelling at 110km/h used roughly twice as much energy as travelling at 75km/h.
Remote roads created additional challenges, with long distances between roadhouses and charging facilities. Strong headwinds on the Nullarbor delayed one crossing by two days. Darmanin completed some sections with his wife, Sally, and son, Evan, and rode others alone.
He previously crossed Australia by electric motorcycle and travelled from Sydney to Darwin via Birdsville.
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