A popular television show will be featuring a segment about Iowa’s renewable energy industry in a couple of upcoming episodes.
The show "American Chopper" will begin it’s new season this week with shows that were filmed in Iowa. The crew from "Orange County Choppers" built the first chopper to run on 85 percent ethanol for the Iowa Farm Bureau.
Farm Bureau president Craig Lang believes the shows will chronicle the challenges in building the chopper, and follow the stars of the program during their visit to Iowa this summer. Lang says, "Orange County Choppers just did a great job of coming to Iowa, investigating, and finding out that we really are leading the world in all sorts of renewable energy.
" The E85 chopper features spinners in the wheels that resemble wind turbines and a body painted with images of corn and soybeans. Lang says the Teutul family is apparently planning to develop an E85 commercial chopper line. The Teutuls hinted at the possibility during their visit to the Iowa State Fair.
"They didn’t indicate at that time what the new line of bikes were," Lang says, "but I’ve since heard that they’re going to start a line of E85 (choppers)." The OCC chopper was raffled off and raised $113,000 for the American Lung Association of Iowa. Wayne County farmer Michael Murphy won the chopper raffle at the Iowa State Fair.
The Iowa-based "American Chopper" shows will air on The Learning Channel at 8 p.m. Central Time on October 11 and 18.