The SunPedal Ride ends its US Tour in Houston, Texas! 

On January 19th, we celebrated the end of the over 6,000 mile journey of The SunPedal Ride! The SunPedal Ride is an annual, solar-powered electric bike ride led by Sushil Reddy and sponsored in part by Octopus Energy. On Wednesday, our CEO, Michael Lee, joined Sushil and his riding partner, Luis Fourzan, along with Octopus team member, Brittany Portillo, to ride the final three miles in Buffalo Bayou park. After finishing their ride, Sushil and Luis participated in a brief Q&A session, asking about the ride, how the bikes work, and what their overall experience was over the last 157 days. Local organizations and members of the community were invited to help celebrate their monumental achievement.

About the SunPedal Ride

Sushil started The SunPedal Ride in 2016 as an outreach project that aims to ignite conversations about clean energy and sustainable mobility. Through this effort, the SunPedal Ride team is better able to advocate for investments in bike infrastructure and more sustainable transportation throughout the country.

This year, the SunPedal Ride took place across the United States, starting on August 15th, 2021 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and ended in Houston yesterday, January 19th, 2022, totalling approximately 6,498 miles of travel. Sushil was accompanied by Luis Fourzan, a Mexican lawyer, outdoor enthusiast, and sustainable energy fanatic. Luis had previously been part of the SunPedal Ride in Iceland in 2018. 

About Sushil Reddy

Sushil Reddy holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest journey on an e-bike. He is an IIT Bombay alumnus from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering and an HEC Paris alumnus from the MSc Program in Sustainability and Social Innovation. 

About the Solar (+ human) powered e-bike

Throughout their trek, Sushi and Luis have met with university students who were especially interested in how the solar-powered bike works. The battery attached to the 2 panels holds about 300 watts hours of electricity. The combination of solar panels and battery storage provides the bike with about 50 percent of the power needed to complete a day’s worth of riding; the other 50 percent is completely human-powered. 

Bicycle Specs: 

• SunPower Solar Panels, each panel holds 50 watts (total of 100 watts of power) 
• Yuba Boda Boda All Terrain Cargo bike
• Retrofitted with all-Axle Front Hub Motor and LiGo Batteries from GRIN Technologies
• Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tires
• Ortlieb water-proof pannier bags
• Assembled by Sol Mobil