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Watch cyclists charge Tesla Model X with human power

A group of cyclists managed to charge a Tesla Model X electric SUV with their own power.

One of the best things about electric vehicles is that you get to choose where the energy powering your car comes from.

Even if your choices are somewhat limited, there are still a lot more options than with gasoline and diesel vehicles, which will of course each only take their own fuel.

But electric vehicles can pull energy from the grid, which can sometimes offer some options depending on the electric utility.

If not, homeowners can decide to install a solar power system and power their electric vehicle with solar energy. Some can even install wind or geothermal systems in some cases.

Now Janne Käpylehto, an inventor from Finland, came up with another source of energy: human power.

He built a system to create electricity from 9 stationary bikes to feed into a charging station and charge a Tesla Model X and demonstrated it on a Finnish TV show:

They managed to reach over 1 kW of power and they added about 2 km of range to electric SUV in 20 minutes.

Electrek’s Take

Now I am aware that this is a fairly insignificant amount of power, but I still like the idea.

I wish there was a simple stationary bike that could be plugged in and output some electricity into your house’s electric system.

Even if the output is super small, I feel like it’s a fun motivating factor that you are not only burning calories and improving your cardiovascular system, but you are also literally producing energy.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Avatar for Fred Lambert Fred Lambert

Fred is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at Electrek.

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