Fantastic! A smaller bike, in a sunnier clime would possibly fill its battery this way. Does not even have to be detachable under some situations.

A "Watt" is a unit of power, not energy--one joule of energy transferred per second, to be precise. Unless you're talking about a rate of increase in power transfer, units like "Watts/hour" make no sense. Similarly, batteries do not store "watts" of energy. I don't mean to be nitpicky, I like the concept and find this very interesting. I'm interested in doing some math to learn more about this scooter's power characteristics, but I can't until I have units that make sense...

(More Information See below...)

Best idea ever.

Imagine how these could sell in developing countries, if you get the cost low enough.

Now imagine doing the same thing with one of those electric bicycles for a true hybrid solution.

And, Glenn, those panels look like they're about 120W total. (So, imagine they had said 120 Wh/h instead of 120 W/h :)

Glen-

Yeah, I know. I always have trouble with the whole watt/joule/volt mishmash (even an Mech-E degree at carnegie mellon didn't fix me :)

I recieved Don's specs from him, and didn't really think them through before posting it up. In hindsight, the following are more accurate:

The array of solar cells are a 120 watt peak system. The batteries must hold 2400 watt-hours, rather than 2400 watts. Therefore, in the 9 hours of charging, the batteries get charged with 1080 watt-hours of energy. Which is half charged. So basically it's exactly what I said, but just with hours mixed in there.

Good luck building your own, if that's the plan.

Hi, My fault with the "watt" issue. I left out some of the information to "simplify" for people who don't understand the conversions involved in solar production. Most people I make contact with understand one term at a time, for example, I fill the tank about 1/2 full daily with about 10 hours of charge and use only about 1/4 of the tank for back and forth to work. The neat thing is, with advanced motor controllers and motors like that on the EVT, we can now actually accomplish what this bike does. Only a few years ago this would not have worked. I expect good things to come with similar bikes in the future. Last, when I need to plug the bike in, the power still comes from the sun at home so this is still a no cost to operate vehicle. (unless you count $15.00 for 3 years of registration an $75.00 for insurance to be road legal...expenses with any vehicle). Appreciate the comments.....ddd

one question. why do the cells fold inword. heck if it needs sun light to run. can it not make a little power driving down the street.

The solar cells Don used are realatively fragile, so I imagine he folded them inward for protection from road gravel. Maybe when more durable printed polymer cells become affordable, this wouldn't be as necessary.

Brilliant. Please advise where I may purchase.

B. McGrath
Coral Gables, FL

Fantastic looking scooter, great idea! Does it come in any other colour I have a real hang up with the colour yellow.

Sir,
Wonderful site indeed.
Very well persented,
Please keep me posted of latest developments.
Good work, all the best,
Ashok

What an excellent idea! We LOVE treehugger and we love that treehugger shows us this cool stuff! I link-back to you in both my blogs. leftedgenorth.blogspot and informiorium.blogspot.
THANKS AGAIN!
Joe

Sir, I am back again with some request for suggestions and comments on improvment.
What and how is your experience with electric Bike ?
Please detail or refer me to some good reviews by users.
My suggestion will cost a little more, but putting the Solar Panels on top of a 'roof' ( as on BMW's C1 bikes ) would make it convinient.
In fact I have a detailed plan for development of this kind of Solar Scooter. I shall display the design soon on my web site and inform you.
Best wishes,
ashok

Ashok,

For those of you with interest.......Bike working well so far.....
I too, thought of panels on top like the BMW C-1, but the bike becomes uncomfortably top heavy. If your bike has the batteries below the center of gravity to counter balance, then it would work ok. Mine has the batteries higher inside the bike and a top heavy bike is dangerous. I chose a "trade off" of a bit higher mounted panels to keep them out of the rear tire "spray" of water and mud (part of my ride is on gravel roads). Also, mounted as they are on my bike allowed the DOT approved turn signals and tail/brake lights to remain intact....important for insurance and registration purposes. If the cosmetic body panels were made foldable, and were actually solar panels instead of body panels, the entire bike would become a power plant that would also continue to charge while driving. One negative to this is the short trip to town is less than a 1/2 hour so a little chargiing is lost anyway. The design I am working on, at least at this point, will always have some sections of body panels pointing toward the sun no matter which way the vehicle is driving. Best wishes on your bike. don dunklee

Pretty interesting except it is a perfect example of barking up the wrong tree.
UNmodified scooter like this is one of the most energy efficient contraption on the planet just behind bicycles so doing all this work to make it even more efficient with panels being 10-15% efficient in exchange for parking req. of the 4x4 is beyond me. Looks like some school project for extra credit and that's all it really is. "NORMAL people" burn 5 galons of Premium to get from point A to poit B which happends to be exactly the distance of one $5 Latte top to battom. This guy went from a quart to $1000 in parts to save said quart while all the 4x4's are flying by with fat cats in them paying thier taxes into the coffers of Bushes and Co, so oil wars can get us what we want.

By sayin' "barking up the wrong tree" a meant THE WRONG VEHICLE. He should have done it to the boxy jeep in the distance there being used to haul the sorry satelite junkie instead at the level of 18 miles from the gallon...
THEN he would have done some good.
It is - sorry - a stupid concept vehicle to begin with.

P.S. ...and he can use them solar wings as the air breaks can he?

Sorry Mirko.....not sure I understand which barking you mean with the rant.....I have not purchased any gas in 2 weeks....Jeep needed on the farm in winter here in Michigan (carries snow plow). During the winter the panels will be plugged in to the house array for additional charging of my home system. We have not paid the power company in 20 years. Maximizes both vehicles, the bike is my personal transportation during spring, summer, fall, saving over a gallon a day. Not a lot on the grand scheme, but if EVERYONE would look at ways of saving fuel.....in all aspects of our lives....the net gain for all of us would be a more positive environment...and a more positive exchange of ideas to accomplish a better world....but a lot of dogs just bark.....regards, don dunklee

Hi Don,
Thanks for the notes. Have considered some of the points u have mentioned and have designed a three wheeled design.
I have uploaded my design,please visit the site,
http://solcooker.tripod.com/SS.htm
The third wheel not shown in the drawing,this was only a profile.
Best wishes,
Ashok