Solar Powered Bike / Trike

[Sunking]

Th eissue you are going to run into the efficient panels are very rigid in frames and heavy. Physics is going to bite you in the butt.

[sdelgad8]

There are many problems with attempting to use a solar panel/s while bike in motion.
I.its almost impossible to keep the panel/s pointing towards the sun
1,very little room on a trike for panel/s
3.keeping building and tree shadows off the panels.
4, A 100w panel at 48v? would be about the max size you could carry. And you be lucky if you get while bike moving more than 60w average.

We are going to build a custom frame to support the solar panels. I have been researching panels, and I am starting to see that we are going to need some of the more efficient solar panels to make this possible. I also was looking at different flexible solar panels but none of them seem to be very powerful. We are still in the research phase so I am exploring different ideas.

Thanks for your response!

[sdelgad8]

Well if you are going to use lithium, then you are going to have to custom design a charge controller. No solar charge controllers exist for lithium batteries yet as Lithium cost are way to high for energy storage. At the end of the day what you will discover it is much cheaper to buy power than make it.

First thing to work out is the battery to wheel efficiency in terms of Wh/mile or Wh/Km. For example something like the Nissan Leaf gets around 400 wh/mile. A Golf Cart around 150 wh/mile. An E-bike I can only guess and say maybe 50 wh/mile. So with a 36 volt 15 AH battery discharged to 80% DOD gives you [36 volts x 15 AH x .8] / 50 wh/mile = 8.6 mile range.

The motor and battery listed in the start of the post are standard equipment for E-bikes. They get about 15 to 40 mile range depending on all factors. As for the solar charge controller I am looking into it now. Our challenge is really just to find a way to charge the battery using solar power so the solar controller is going to very important.

[Sunking]

John based on an earkier post the solar will be stationary using a 360 watt panel.

[Sunny Solar]

There are many problems with attempting to use a solar panel/s while bike in motion.
I.its almost impossible to keep the panel/s pointing towards the sun
1,very little room on a trike for panel/s
3.keeping building and tree shadows off the panels.
4, A 100w panel at 48v? would be about the max size you could carry. And you be lucky if you get while bike moving more than 60w average.

[Sunking]

Well if you are going to use lithium, then you are going to have to custom design a charge controller. No solar charge controllers exist for lithium batteries yet as Lithium cost are way to high for energy storage. At the end of the day what you will discover it is much cheaper to buy power than make it.

First thing to work out is the battery to wheel efficiency in terms of Wh/mile or Wh/Km. For example something like the Nissan Leaf gets around 400 wh/mile. A Golf Cart around 150 wh/mile. An E-bike I can only guess and say maybe 50 wh/mile. So with a 36 volt 15 AH battery discharged to 80% DOD gives you [36 volts x 15 AH x .8] / 50 wh/mile = 8.6 mile range.

[sdelgad8]

I am a student in a Mechanical Engineering Technology program. As my groups senior project we are trying to make a solar powered bike/trike. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how we should make this work. Here is an idea of what we have. We are still in the research phase so any suggestions would be appreciated.


-Custom tricycle frame to support equipment
-500-750 watt direct drive hub motor
-36 Volt Lithium Battery 15ah
- Solar Panels in research now

We are looking ways to get the most energy and power. We are at the early stages of research, so any thing helps.

Thanks!!!