How to Solar Charge an Electric Bicycle

[craneplaneguy]

It will be interesting to see if they can compete against China. In Pocatello, near where I'm at, HOKU built a 2 or 3 billion dollar poly silicon plant (raw ingredient of PV panels), and it went under before it was in production due to shifting world wide demand and overseas competition. They couldn't make the PS as cheap as China could sell it. The plant is sitting there now, rusting. Oddly enough, one of the big losers was the local utility, who ran a major power line upgrade out to them for nothing, based on their projected power demand (they would have been the second biggest power consumer in the state) and they got left holding the bag when HOKU went under. When I buy solar in bulk, price per watt is a major factor, and more and more that seems to mean Chinese, I have a shop full of them now, 50 190 watt modules anyway, that I'll sell in the next few months. The end customer, with the rare exception, doesn't care where they come from, just so they are the "right" price.

 

[LockH]

Interesting. (Had to look that up.) So, this time around "built and paid for by the state of New York" (taxpayers?) while Hoku Scientific Inc. (based in Hawaii, a "Chinese" renewable energy company) was "way back" in 2007. Construction ended in 2012 after Hoku and its surety, Tianwei New Energy Holdings, ceased paying for plant construction.

And "Court records say Hoku ran into trouble when the market for polysilicon — raw material for solar projects — crashed in 2008, prompting the company to enter into financing arrangement where its customer Tianwei became a majority shareholder and “funding arm of Hoku.”"

http://www.law360.com/articles/595230/contractor-loses-25m-suit-over-failed-idaho-factory

Anyway... Latest/recent news "JH Kelly may have buyer for old Hoku plant".

Interesting to read about polysilicon (billed as "earth's second most abundant element") pricing last November:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...oming-and-its-biggest-component-is-dirt-cheap

(Hehe... Funny writers terming this stuff as "DIRT cheap". And it's said "another sign of how good the solar industry is at losing money".)

Maybe NY folks have figured out how to drive production costs lower? (Other than importing slave labour from China I mean.) At least to heat the stuff in manufacturing they maybe get "cheap" electricity as hydro power that really does come from Niagara falls. `Round here our "hydro" is maybe half nuclear generated.

To wattEVer extent costs are driven by different factors, at least re wages they've been rising faster in China maybe:

 

[LockH]

"6 Months Later, Here's What's Happened to the Netherlands' Solar Bike Paths"

http://mic.com/articles/117948/6-mo...-the-netherland-s-solar-bike-paths#.QGrAHjFOH
In part:

Al Jazeera reports SolaRoad's 70-meter test track near the town of Krommenie outside Amsterdam has generated over 3,000 kilowatt-hours over its first six months of operation, or "enough to provide a single-person household with electricity for a year." That translates to 70 kwh per square meter of solar road per year, which the designers predicted as an "upper limit" during the planning process.

Basically, it works really, really well.

`Course, were I King? Those solar cells as panels would be on a (south sloping in Canada) canopy/roof ABOVE the roads/pathways. Angled for better sun exposure, zero wear and tear from any traffic, better protection for riders and more "year `round" travels, and to let snows and rain slide off rather than needing any plowing, etc.

 

[LockH]

Only mentioned one time previously on ES. The word "perovskites". As in "hybrid lead halide perovskites" mentioned re solar cells here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/scientist-have-found-a-way-to-recycle-sunlight-2016-3

"a group of materials already making waves in solar cell technology, and demonstrates their ability to absorb energy from the sun, create electric charge, and then churn out some light energy of their own."

Moreover, the researchers demonstrated that such these cells can be produced cheaply, with easily synthesized materials, making the proposition much more commercially viable.

Hybrid lead halide perovskites were already known to do this task efficiently, but what Dr. Deschler and his team have demonstrated is an ability to do more: the perovskites are actually able to emit light themselves after creating charge — and then reabsorb that light energy.

The result is a solar cell that acts like a concentrator, able to produce more energy — to boost the voltage obtained from a given amount of light — than would a cell made of materials without this recycling ability.

“Why this is now a big thing is because the current record of photo cell efficiency rests at 20-21 percent, whereas the absolute limit is 33 percent,” says Deschler. “Our results suggest a route to achieve that limit.”

Other stuff said at one time to have limits "trains can't go faster than 7 miles an hour (all the air will be forced out and the passengers wont be able to breath)... heavier than air flight is impossible...

[youtube]crAugJXG3QA[/youtube]

[youtube]KLIocQU8nQg[/youtube]

 

[LockH]

"New Ultrathin Solar Cells Are Light Enough to Sit on a Soap Bubble"

Kinda makes my thoughts re a "velomobile"-style body for the trike papered with solar cells more... interesting.

"The scientists acknowledged that the solar cell they created to sit atop a soap bubble might be too thin to be practical."

(that's so far... )

Conventional silicon-based solar modules produce about 6.8 watts per lb. (15 watts per kilogram), but these new devices can generate more than 2,720 watts per lb. (6 watts per gram), or about 400 times as much.

8)

The researchers noted they could easily fabricate parylene films up to 80 microns thick using commercial equipment without losing the other benefits of their manufacturing technique.

("the average human hair is about 100 microns thick.")

The new devices are also superlightweight, weighing only about 0.01 lbs. per square yard (3.6 grams per square meter). In comparison, typical piece of office paper weighs about 20 times more.

the power-to-weight ratio of the new devices is among the highest ever achieved for solar cells.

8)

Some of the main challenges in scaling up this approach for commercial use might include developing an integrated system for high-throughput manufacturing — for example, roll-to-roll processing — increasing the deposition speed, and identifying applications where an ultralight and flexible cell would provide some unique value to the user."

Oh. I dunno. Like on ebike frames etc maybe?

Hehe

 

[Chalo]

Like on ebike frames etc maybe?

Hehe

The very first e-bike I ever built, back in the last millennium, had a GaAs PV array on one side of the frame and another one on the disc front wheel. It could charge at around 100W when lying down in midday sun. But it couldn't do any such thing when being ridden, because a fork leg and a human leg got in the way.

If you shade any portion of a solar array, performance drops as if you shaded to whole thing.

 

[1JohnFoster]

The very first e-bike I ever built, back in the last millennium, had a GaAs PV array on one side of the frame and another one on the disc front wheel.

Cool! How practical did that work out. Were you able to park where you could charge effectively?

 

[LockH]

VTA GM & CEO Nuria Fernandez, Los Altos Mayor and VTA Board Member Jeannie Bruins and Swiftmile.com CEO Colin cutting the ribbon on an e-bike charging station at our River Oaks campus. These solar-charged e-bikes will help our employees get around during the day without a car and without getting too tired. The station and four bikes are part of a partnership with Swiftmile to test these bikes in North San Jose.

And now with a video:
http://archive.aweber.com/ebr_optin/MA2tm/h/Solar_Powered_E_Bike_Rentals_UK.htm

 

[Chalo]

The very first e-bike I ever built, back in the last millennium, had a GaAs PV array on one side of the frame and another one on the disc front wheel.

Cool! How practical did that work out. Were you able to park where you could charge effectively?

I built it for a co-worker. We had a huge unshaded parking lot right outside the doors to our workshops, so he would just lay it on its side and rotate it a couple of times during the day. I didn't keep track of the bike after I left that job, but while I witnessed it, it was as easy as plugging in if not more so.

 

[1JohnFoster]

We had a huge unshaded parking lot right outside the doors to our workshops, so he would just lay it on its side and rotate it a couple of times during the day. I didn't keep track of the bike after I left that job, but while I witnessed it, it was as easy as plugging in if not more so.

So practical for commuting in sunny climates with a parking lot. I can't count on sunny days, and since I travel to different destinations, I can't "establish my spot". On the plus side, at my latittude I'd only have to cant it over 45degrees or so. But I guess cost, theft and damage risk in public limit the concept.

 

[LockH]

[youtube]IeGqZbJ5kxg[/youtube]

 

[LockH]

"Queensland's first solar-powered electric car chargers available and free for public use"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-...electric-car-chargers-free-for-public/7307430

[youtube]9hBGzumymA0[/youtube]

(Charges LOTS of ebikes FAST. Hehe)

And from New Zealand:
https://charge.net.nz/

All our chargers support both CHAdeMO and CCS charging standards. CHAdeMO is used by Japanese vehicles like the Nissan Leaf. CCS exists in two forms, Type 1 to suit American cars and Type 2 for European cars. Our chargers support the American CCS standard.

 

[LockH]

From September last year... "New Hybrid Solar Cell Produces 5 Times Higher Voltage Than Competitors"
http://gizmodo.com/new-hybrid-solar-cell-produces-5-times-higher-voltage-t-1729764878

Solar cells are becoming increasingly efficient, but many still fail to make full use of the radiation that falls upon them. A new hybrid cell, however, converts unused light into heat to boost its efficiency by 20 percent.

Researchers have taken a conventional dye-sensitized solar cell and placed it upon a film of PEDOT — a conductive polymer that warms up when light shines upon it. Beneath that are a sheet of pyroelectric film and a thermoelectric device, both of which convert heat into electricity.

As a result, light that isn’t absorbed by the solar cell is converted into electricity, too — providing a 20 percent boost in efficiency. The idea of creating a hybrid solar cell like this isn’t a new one, but the device in question manages to a voltage that’s five times higher than other comparable hybrid systems.

The extra hardware required to create hybrid solar cells typically makes them prohibitively expensive, but such a significant bump in output may be enough to justify the extra costs.

 

[LockH]

"Dutch Nano Solar Technology Targets a ‘Chargeless’ Electric Bike"
http://electricbikereport.com/nano-solar-chargeless-electric-bike/

 

[LockH]

"San Francisco just became the first big US city to require solar panels on new buildings"
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-just-became-first-225444561.html

In part

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed legislation that would require new construction that is shorter than 10 floors to install solar panels or solar water heaters on top of both new residential and commercial buildings.

According to California law, all new buildings with 10 floors or less must have at least 15% of their rooftops designated as solar ready — meaning not in the shade. San Francisco now requires those buildings to actually use it for solar panels.

 

[1JohnFoster]

"San Francisco just became the first big US city to require solar panels on new buildings"
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-just-became-first-225444561.html

WOW! Cool!

 

[LockH]

Perhaps related to all things "solar bicycle"...

Welcome to The Solar Car Wiki
This wiki was created in 2010, after the realization that, in North America, the "brain sport" of Solar Car racing appeared to be suffering a slow death from its peak in the early 21st century (2001-2005). More and more teams were simply disappearing or ceasing to function, and only a few new teams were forming to replace their numbers. Of the teams that did surface, many seemed to have difficulty completing a competitive entry in time for the race.

http://solarcar.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

[LockH]

"Solar Energy War: Utilities Set Their Sights on Rooftop Solar"
http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...gy-war-utilities-set-sights-on-rooftop-s.aspx

Author comments "Community solar could solve all of these problems"

 

[BiciMad]

Umm....m8's, unless i see a couple of wheels on the pictures and videos that most of u send on this thread, i should say they're off topic. I wanna hear about small panels attached to a couple or three wheels, the rest is just kinda noise.

I hope i can come up with something decent this summer, but the setting up is getting more expensive than i thought, on the bright side, the bicycle it's faster and more reliable than i initialy thought, so, i'll post some pics in the near future.

Meanwhile, i would love to read, about those lifepo4 solar chargers, bienno or genasun, those flexible solar panels put on good work 8)

 

[LockH]

Quote ES user "solbike" when they started this thread back in May, 2011 (first post):

There are four ways to solar charge a lithium ion battery that I know of; please comment if you know of others or better ways. Each has their advantages and disadvantages. A difficulty with solar charging lithium ion batteries for electric bicycles is that the best voltage to use for motor powers from 200W to 500W is 36V. This in nearly exclusively a voltage used for electric bicycles and it's near impossible to find commercially available systems for charging this voltage with care needed to make sure it's suitable for lithium ion chemistry (36V regulators for lead acid batteries can be found, many of these regulators can be set at 12, 24, 36 or 48V).

Here are the methods I can think of with their approximate prices and pros and cons -

1) Get a standard grid connected solar system and then use your charger from the mains power.

etc

 

[LockH]

So. And how does YOUR garden grow?
[youtube]_bxxqHEOVM4[/youtube]

http://www.arkynetechnologies.com/
http://www.bioo.tech/

 

[LockH]

"New Record Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Now Undercutting Coal"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ndercut-coal-with-another-record-set-in-dubai

2.99 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour is 15% lower than old record

Developers "bid" as little as 2.99 cents a kilowatt-hour "to develop"... Oh oh. So, remains to be seen. Back in early April, Bloomberg reported "Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-06/wind-and-solar-are-crushing-fossil-fuels

 

[craneplaneguy]

Oddly enough, cheaper PV pricing is even having a impact on the THERMAL side of solar, hot water solar panels. I've been using them for decades, and currently have 3 on my house and 6 on my shop, for heating the radiant floor slabs. But when I recently built a small building in town to keep my crane in, I used one of my existing PV arrays from home, as I have such a large excess of grid tied power at home, and growing every year, I realized I could take one of my smaller arrays down. 8 or 9 months out of the year, the PV system will be building an excess, come heating system I'll use that excess, thus heating for free. This was a simpler and less expensive way to go then buy more hot water panels, amazing!

 

[LockH]

^^ Cool. (Or hot, as case may be. Confused) See also maybe ES earch found 29 matches: +solar +concentrator. If ya want to kick solar butt.

 

[LockH]

Folks in the suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, AU hard at work. "Battery powers up from solar panels":
http://baysidenews.com.au/2016/05/09/battery-powers-solar-panels/

The relatively small cabinets required for the batteries to be fitted for domestic use seem a far cry from the project initially embarked on by its developers: an electric bicycle.

Neighborhood colleagues Andrew Lamb and David Treanor shared rides to work at General Motors in Port Melbourne. The two engineers knew car manufacturing in Australia was all but doomed and came up with the idea for an efficient electric-powered bicycle while talking about “life after GM”.

Hehe... "life after GM" (cars)