Ten bikes, twelve docks, no batteries: Efecto Pedal

Montevideo, 4 December 2014

Efecto Cine's "Efecto Pedal" system launched on 4 December 2014 on the esplanade of the Intendencia de Montevideo. The Uruguayan presidency's launch communiqué describes "un sistema mixto de diez bicicletas rodado 26 de Efecto Pedal acondicionadas con un motor de disco en la rueda trasera y un rectificador que genera esa energía, producida al pedalear, en corriente continua" — a mixed system of ten 26-inch-wheel bicycles fitted with a hub-disc motor in the rear wheel and a rectifier, converting the energy produced by pedalling into direct current ¹. Alongside the ten generator bikes, the launch documentation specifies "12 estaciones libres" — twelve free docking stations — where audience members plug in their own bicycles ¹; the primary launch sources give twelve, not the ten docks that vendor material and some secondary press repeat.

Twelve volts, an ultracapacitor bank, 220 volts

Director Diego Parodi described the chain to El País: "Todo esto genera un voltaje inofensivo de entre 12 y 15 volts, por el que no se corre peligro. Nuestro equipo lo transforma a 220 y con eso se alimenta a todos los equipos." ("All of this generates a harmless voltage of between 12 and 15 volts, so there is no danger. Our equipment transforms it to 220, and with that all the equipment is powered.") ² Between generation and the 220 V output sits an ultracapacitor bank that accumulates and stabilises the current — not the "central battery" some secondary accounts describe. The Chilean sister deployment states it directly: "El sistema no utiliza baterías" — the system uses no batteries ^3,4. The Intendencia de Florida's announcement of a "Verano a Pedal 2023" tour stop confirms that audience pedalling generates all of the show's electricity, including inflating the screen, projecting the film and powering the sound, so the blower sits inside the pedal-powered load ¹¹.

The operator-stated minimum of "como mínimo 1300 watts para que toda la función" (at least 1,300 watts for the whole show) covers projection, sound and screen inflation together, monitored by a real-time LED voltmeter that warns the audience when harder pedalling is needed; it is a single-source requirement, not a metered value ^5,6. The marketed capacity of "up to 1,500" spectators is a sales figure: no documented headcount at that scale was located for any individual Efecto Pedal screening ⁸.

Licensed technology, and the "first world tour" claim

The technology is licensed: Efecto Cine's system runs on equipment from "The Electric Pedals Experience, empresa con sede en Londres" — the London-based Electric Pedals — whose founder confirmed three of the company's large bicycle cinemas touring South America with Efecto Cine as partner ^3,12. El País reported in 2015 the operator's claim to a "primera gira mundial," a first world tour; Market Chile had run an "Efecto pedal" event at Quinta Normal, Santiago, on 6–8 November 2014, a month before the Montevideo launch, on the same licensed Electric Pedals technology, with 22 pedalling spots, ultracapacitor buffering and a 7-by-6-metre inflatable screen ⁴. Neither claim is documented as a world first; both stand with their dates.

From 2015 to 2025

Efecto Cine ran national tours from 2015 onward: the 2018 "Verano a Pedal" covered all 19 Uruguayan departments with 24 screenings on 12 bikes plus a hand-crank added for accessibility ⁷, and the September–December 2025 "En 3 Actos" tour delivered 50 screenings, including ten Cine a Pedal events, on a rig built around a 7.5-by-6-metre Airscreen and a high-definition laser projector, marketed for audiences of up to 1,500 ^8,9. The same format anchored Montevideo's Cinemateca Uruguaya "Cine a Pedal" festival for seven editions between 2013 and 2019 — the 2019 sixth edition used a 22-bike relay platform — before pausing; it was exported to Bogotá in 2018 and franchised to Nigrán, Galicia, from 2022 ^10,13.