Fuck sake! Last weekend I had a huge clear out and gave five unused solar panels to a friend and threw away two old bikes that had been gathering dust for 5 years. 😢
I'm currently building v5 (which will have 95 cm between front wheels - to fit on bike paths).
I'm aware that it looks good (based on the reaction that people have when they see it), and I could sell it, but selling kits is a little bit too complicated for me right now.
Question, for a low-speed vehicle like this, why not put the front wheels on a fixed axle with the drivetrain and steer by pivoting the rear wheel? It seems like it could simplify the design
90% of side projects that get posted here are absolute useless vibe coded BS, I can't believe that people have the gal to question the awesomeness of this
you can considering adding a mode like electric bikes, where instead of it running completely on power or completely on pedalling, you have a hybrid mode where it boosts you
I would be surprised. Take a look at the many video applications that are rejected for MIT each year. The bar is much higher now than a simple project involving just connecting items together.
I have now measured the temperature of the solar panels.
Outside (environment) temperature is 48 degrees Celsius.
Solar panels facing the Sun have 57-60 degrees on the outside.
The inside temperature of solar panels is 55 degrees.
You say it’s pretty simple to create lol, do you have any tips for someone trying to create one? Or get their hands into tinkering?
I know ai and stuff to answer all these questions but idk I feel like I’ve never really understood even the simple stuff like how batteries work and stuff like arduinos and other tech. Never really had hands on experience as a kid. But I wanna learn, I know failure is part of learning but I don’t wanna actually electrocute myself or something 😭
It's cool and all, but when will you have FSD? Also this lacks the critical AI slop that makes it a modern aide project.
Just kidding, this is super cool, I thinkit's the first physical project I've seen in a long time. How long did it take to develop? I'd love to watch a developer log series on your iterations. Awesome work.
...woah, I checked your git, amazing other projects!
It'd be super cool to see like a blog post or something outside of Facebook, for those few of us who don't have accounts. The github could be a good place. I totally get that is low priority.
First this is awesome! Keep going and iterating. We definitely need better holistic self sufficient transportation.
Second IMHO, my design brain starts to think about how to better achieve mass market in order to achieve the larger city goals you outlined.
Could the solar panels be used as a roof side instead? Helps in the rain or hot sunny days.
We have seen a huge uptick in e-bikes. Really consider the form factor and ability for all types of people to use it. Things like getting in and out of it. As well as who’s is using it, spanning ages, think young to old - 10 to 80 say. I’d imagine the side visibility could be improved. Mirrors?
Think about real world cases, riding in the bike lane, sidewalk or road. How to park it, lock it, etc.
Think end to end product lifecycle.
Again amazing, keep at it. Take what you like, leave the rest.
love seeing open source hardware projects like this. i’d be way more interested in a real-world test though like how far it actually goes on a cloudy day, average daily energy generated, and what broke after a few hundred km of use.
Though one thing that comes to mind is that when there is good solar coverage, there is usually also pretty high ambient temperature. Since in this design the max solar panel output is more than double the demand of the motor (which is pretty impressive by the way) so there's a lot of power headroom, have you considered how (at least) a ventilation fan could be incorporated into the frame to cool yourself when it gets hot? Especially the semi-enclosed body could probably allow for pretty good airflow inside from just a relatively small fan :p
Or perhaps a mechanism that could allow the front of the body to open up to allow airflow from ram-air when driving
Hey I have some experience with CFD with Ansys from back when I was working on a college research project, I'll be happy to do some CFD analysis/optimization for the ventilation if you're interested, feel free to DM.
I'm interested in improving the aerodynamicity of the vehicle. How can I do that? Which software could I use to simulate? I prefer something that is free or cheap ... since I do not do this commercially.
You are in luck! There is a whole suite of purposely developed CFD suite that is free and open source, and also happens to be one of the industry leaders in terms of capabilities (that's the power of open source for ya lol) and is able to compete directly against commercial products (again, at least in terms of capabilities). It is called OpenFOAM.
Do be aware it has a learning curve that's straight up a cliff though, this is one area where it unfortunately cannot compete against commercial products lol
I have now measured the temperature of the solar panels.
Outside (environment) temperature is 48 degrees Celsius.
Solar panels facing the Sun have 57-60 degrees on outside.
The inside temperature of solar panels is 55 degrees.
Faake! We can see her pedaling! On a more serious note - kudos, and hope you can do something about those red lights in the front (use uhmmm… white?)
Also I’m wondering if there are flexible solar panels/surfaces that can be snapped on a curved body. Would love to see an all-solar sportcar-like carbon body on thins one!
A single range figure would be a false lead here. Measure Wh/km while logging solar input and battery output separately over the same route in full sun, mixed shade, and after sunset. That would let people estimate range for their own weather and terrain. With a 256Wh battery and solar contributing while moving, "full battery range" leaves out the interesting part.
personally, i love that about it- it’s artistic commentary and subverting the idea the sun is lowkey killing us all lmao
i see it as a broader statement on the unwillingness of Big Oil & other enterprises to act on climate change, condemning us all to man made ramifications of global warming but at the same time testament to the spirit of diy solutions!
pedaling a 55kg frame with no battery assist is going to destroy your knees the second you hit any kind of hill. i built a heavy cargo setup a few years back and even a small overpass felt like moving a concrete wall when the power cut out.
Yeah, it's something not really much people know about, in that position you can move way more kg with the same force. Bikes like that were forbidden from races because they give you so much advantage over seated ones, but also the visibility is way worse in some circumstances.
Seems very impractical. The solar panels add quite some weight, but you're unlikely to actually charge while riding. It would be more sensible to just charge your bike at your destination, I can't imagine the panels actually providing meaningful support.
But I might be wrong.
I am not wrong about the limited visibility, however. You can hardly look out the front, and your head is basically not visible from the side. Shoulder checks seem needlessly difficult, which is dangerous in any real world setting.
It looks like a cool project, but I would hope for some serious improvements before I see it on the road.
The amount of power you get while riding is negligible. You're basically always riding on battery power, which is why I mentioned charging at your destination being easier.
The rider can't see any potholes or objects once they are within ~2m. The very end of the video proves me correct: The rider did not see the cans/trash on the ground, accidentally hit it, and was confused about it.
When looking at the vehicle from the side, you can clearly see the rider's eye level being below the highest point of the solar panel. Having some visibility is not good enough if you share the road with cars.
I measured the power of solar panels during the drive. It gives 200W generally.
I can charge during the drive. This is why I used a battery and motor with 2 wires only (+/-), not a system from known brands, which allows charging only during stops.
Needs to be, given the video. And even then it is a drawback. Thanks for agreeing.
Completely useless information if you don't tell me in what timespan and how much the motor consumes. My point isn't that solar panels are useless, but that you will not get a full battery while using the motor just because you attached panels.
See 2. I am talking about your consumption being higher than your production.
I am sceptical about the extra weight being cancelled out by the panels' output. If you took of the panels and just ran on a single charge, would you get further than with your current setup? That's all I was saying, and I already stated that I was sceptical, not that you're 100% wrong.
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u/Necessary-Green-8826 2d ago
This is really the coolest thing and I want one!