In case anyone is working on some cargo bikes with E-assist, I think it would be super interesting to see something with solar panels on the cargo area!
On my bullitt cargo bike I would be able to fitenough monocrystalline solar cells for 85 watts peak which sounds like a very useful amount even if you’re not getting all the 85 watts nearly all the time!
Any other use cases for these solar cells? I think they could be used in some very interesting stuff!
Man I wish I had all the time, money and knowledge I needed for all the ideas I dream up all the time… I’d already be flying a solar powered glider plane…
That’s actually a really good idea. Especially if you leave it parked. It could gain a very useful amount of juice in a reasonable time. The concept doesn’t really work for electric cars (because they’re ridiculously heavy and need crazy amounts of energy) but is definitely viable for cargo bikes!
It’s an extremely niche use case I must admit, because my bike rarely spends much time in the sun but it could be a cool relatively simple add-on for those who can make use of it.
Or, faired recumbent velomobile covered in solar panels…? Ultimate extreme long distance bike?
I’ve once met a young couple full time traveling on a tandem with a trailer. They had a tandem where the stoker is up front in a recumbent position and the conductor is on the back seat sitting normally, a hub motor and maybe 2m² of solar and batteries in the trailer. There was also a seat for their kiddo… They said that on a sunny day they could run assisted constantly
Those semi recumbent tandems are really cool, I see them very occasionally here in Belgium!
I’ve seen people on YouTube using solar panels on trailers before but it doesn’t seem very convenient to me, although if you’re already going to be using a trailer, then yeah absolutely!
If you check out “outsidebrendan” on Instagram/youtube, he just did this a few months ago - it was technically a joke video, but he did actually engineer and build a solar trailer to power his ebike and said it worked quite well!
I was just transporting the solar panel in this photo, but it certainly got the ideas flowing. This is a 100W panel on a small bucket bike and it fit reasonably well. It would fill the 500wh battery in a day of summer sun. The problem is that I don’t store my bikes outside in the sun.
A more practical solution is probably to put a 100W panel on your garage or shed feeding a portable power station and using that to charge.
but very easy with portable power stations these days!