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I suppose the surface area + efficiency isn't there yet, but it would be sick to take my e-bike places and then expand a canopy to charge and then go on again.
by arjie 2mo ago
I suppose the surface area + efficiency isn't there yet, but it would be sick to take my e-bike places and then expand a canopy to charge and then go on again.
- discordance 2mo agoIt’s possible! There’s a yearly bike race from Europe to China called The Sun Trip, where people mod their bikes with solar and batteries and ride 12k km to China. You might like this documentary that covered the first Sun Trip that happened in 2018: https://youtu.be/P1LB0jPh7QQ https://youtu.be/P1LB0jPh7QQ
- arjie 2mo agoThat’s sick dude. Thanks for linking!
- vzaliva 2mo agoYou nailed it: there is a conflict between surface area (wanting more for solar charging) and efficiency (you want it to be aerodynamic and light, hence less area for solar charging). I also think an extendable canopy (for a car, not a bike) should be a better approach. I wonder if anyone tried it.
- DennisP 2mo agoAptera manages 3 square meters of solar panel on a 2200 pound vehicle with a drag coefficient of 0.13, which seems pretty decent to me.