Volkswagen ID.4 EV claims Guinness World Records title

The Guinness World Records have announced that Zietlow, Collins and the Volkswagen ID.4 have claimed the title for the longest continuous journey by an electric vehicle (non-solar) in a single country, smashing the previous record's distance by more than double. The previous and first record holder was Christian Gernemann who drove a Renault Zoe across Romania from 8 October 2018 to 3 April 2019 and clocked up 25,493.09 km.

Almost 100 days ago, Zietlow and Collins took off from Volkswagen's headquarters in Herndon, Virginia with a mission to visit more than 600 Volkswagen dealerships in an ID.4, Volkswagen’s first long-range EV sold in the US. During their long electrified road trip, the pair clocked up more than 35,000 miles (56,000 km) and visited 628 Volkswagen dealerships across all 48 mainland states.

“It was great being able to share my experiences with the ID.4 with so many different people, including dealership staff, along the way,” said Zietlow. “Breaking the record is not only a testament to the reliability of the ID.4, but also to the actual readiness of the nation’s charging infrastructure.”

The travellers said that they relied heavily on Electrify America’s network of chargers, making 208 stops at charging stations by the end of their road trip. The estimated range of an ID.4 is around 250 miles (402 km).

The Volkswagen ID.4 will be the first VW EV to arrive here in Australia but that’s now not expected to happen until late 2023.

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