Motorola’s Bike Charger for Mobile Phones
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 01.10.07
The big news of the day might’ve been that Apple had finally taken the wraps off their iPhone, but the greener gossip was to be found in the Motorola camp. This communications giant was unveiling a more modest gadget, yet of immediate utility to umpteen million folk, in what are termed ‘emerging markets’. Their particular do-dad is a battery charger for mobile phones that is powered simply by riding a bicycle. Motorola’s CEO, Ed Zander rode a bike into his recent keynote speech to highlight the technology. He reckoned it would be of use to the multitudes of people needing communications, but still lacking in grid connected services. "Farmers in Senegal use the phone to monitor crop prices. Health workers in South Africa use their phones to locate records while dealing with patients," he said. And it seems that rural China is a prime market for Motorola, who suggested that in a country with 500 million commuting cyclists, there are also five million new mobile phone subscribers every month. India, Asia and Latin America are in their sights too. ::Motorola. Via Engadget, Textually, and Vancouver Sun.
Is this already for sale? Does it have a release date in Latin America?
Cool!
Maybe I can connect it straight to my dynamo?
I have a dynamo in the centre of the wheel.
It feels almost effortless compared normal "external" dynamos.
What more can I charge while I bike?
It's very hard to say, but it looks to me like it's a dynamo running on the rear tire. If you look next to his right leg, near the inside of the rim, there is a black blob that could be a relatively conventional dynamo. Might be some electronic charging guts on the charger-looking thing on the handle bars.
My 2 cents on the side: Amount of drag with a dynamo depends on the quality/price of the unit, whether it's a hub dynamo or conventional rim type. Rim types can be disengaged so that they create zero drag though. Even when they're off, hub dynamo create a little more drag than a normal hub.
Better still, they should offer a module that plugs into a typical bicycle dynamo (the majority of which are 6v, 3W) that would convert its current to something the charger could use. Then put a switch on it so the rider could bypass the charger to run a light at night. Simpler than a proprietary dynamo, which might mean putting two dynamos on one bike...
I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm betting it would be possible.
Look, the whole point of this is provide power for charging phone to people who don't have ready access to electric grid. This is a LOT of people and many of them want and need to communicate wirelessly. Also, cost is an important consideration, so you have to trade off efficiency of the dynamo and circuitry vs. price. This may not be the only approach and maybe not "high tech," but it is a smart answer to an important problem.
It certainly could be designed to power other devices (bike light, etc.). And could also be used in the home to power or recharge other devices or for if power grid is down - happens frequently in some parts of the world.
its amazing. can i know its working. if i know i can support u technically.
We launched our mobile phone charger from bicycle power (PedalPower+) at the Intlbike and fitness show in Guangzhou China in early December 2006.
A far mor verstatile unit than the Motorola item and it fits all phones. Not only can the PedalPower+ charge your mobile phone from bicycle power it also has a built in Solar Energy system, so if you are not riding your bicycle you can still charge your phone. Not only great for developing countries with electrical supply problems, but also good for developed countries where leisure and sporting activities such as camping, hiking, touring take you away from readily availble power.
The PedalPower+ can be used not only for charging mobile phones but can also be used to charge digital cameras, iPod, PDA, MP3 and even Bluetooth.
Check our webiste at www.copycatsolar.com for full details
The latest report on bees may estinquish all cell phones wortld wide. We need to eat rater than talk.
it would be interesting if they did a little
research into the amount of carbon
they would be offsetting do to a [minute]
decrease in electricity production/use;
but, when it comes to energy 'harvesting'
one must always be weary of the battery
that holds the energy; those juices and the
disposal can be pretty gnarly on the environment;
direct application is the least harmful for the
environment, but it has it's limitations;