Volkswagen sets Guinness World Record with 23,849km electric-car drive around Australia
Yesterday at 03:00 PM
A German duo has driven a VW ID.4 throughout Australia to break the record for the largest GPS map drawing made by an electric vehicle.
Australia has been used as the canvas for a new Guinness World Record set by a Volkswagen ID.4 electric car to mark the company’s 70th anniversary on local roads.
The record for the largest GPS drawing made by an electric vehicle has been broken by an inscription of ’70 years of VeeDub’ written by driving 23,849km in an ID.4 throughout the map of Australia.
Rainer Zietlow and Marius Biela – two Germans who have previously set several Guinness World Records in other VW cars around the world – spent 42 days in the left-hand-drive electric car imported from Germany.
MORE: Electric cars Australia: Cheapest, best and newest electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids
In total – when the distance driven between each letter and number in the ‘drawing’ is included – the pair covered 33,548km across August and September 2024, and used 132 charging points.
The record – which can be viewed via this link – was backed by Volkswagen Australia, which is celebrating its 70th year of operation in 2024.
It was also sponsored by Volkswagen Financial Services, Ampol, the Sydney Swans AFL team and Kumho Tyres, with the ID.4 reportedly only receiving one flat tyre over the entire journey.
The all-wheel-drive ID.4 GTX electric SUV driven by the pair is Zietlow’s personal car, which already had more than 50,000km on its odometer before the vehicle was shipped to Australia for the record attempt.
Right-hand-drive versions of the Volkswagen ID.4 are due in local showrooms by the end of this year, alongside a slew of other new electric cars from VW, Skoda, Cupra and Audi.
The first examples of the initial model to arrive – a rear-wheel-drive variant, alongside the coupe-styled, all-wheel-drive ID.5 GTX – have been produced and are en route to Australia.
Next month, Zietlow and Biela will embark on another Guinness World Record attempt in Australia, this time crossing deserts in a highly-modified Volkswagen Amarok Style V6 ute.
“Based as a highly acclaimed collaboration project, the uniquely Volkswagen body, interior and specifications were designed and honed over two years by a Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles team based in Australia,” the German car maker said in a media release.
Zietlow first visited Australia for a Guinness World Record in the mid-2000s, as part of an around-the-world tour in a natural gas-powered VW Caddy van.
The post Volkswagen sets Guinness World Record with 23,849km electric-car drive around Australia appeared first on Drive.
