solar panels bike tour

• Travel Gear

Solar Panel Recommendations for Bicycle Touring

Solar power technology is ever evolving and is pretty much just getting super awesome. If I travelled with a laptop and wanted to be 100% power sufficient – I wouldn’t hesitate to get a mega solar and battery kit to keep everything running wherever I am.

I’m actually not very experienced in solar panels myself but hear and read a lot from people travelling around the world.

This is an excerpt from The Ultimate Power Resource for Bicycle Touring . If you’re interested in dynamo hubs, power supplies and other batteries, make sure to take a look at that general resource.

Popular Solar Power Options

Note: There are lot and lots of solar chargers available, but these are from the larger brands with the more established reputations.

Brunton Solaris/Explorer – A bit pricier, but from all accounts some of the best products out there. If you get something with USB compatibility you’ll be on a win. Products rated between 2-26 watts.

Goal Zero Nomad – Probably the most popular solar units around for bicycle travellers because of their low cost and availability – although customer service and longevity seems less than perfect. Products rated between 7-27 watts.

Freeloader – Super cheap, small (1.5w) solar charger/batteries with 800-1600mAh built in batteries. Good for smaller USB powered devices for those on a budget.

Powerfilm USB+AA – This small 1.5w panel gets mixed reviews as it’s not as cheap as the competition and isn’t compatible with all phones.

Powertraveller – The Primatepower solar products offer a good range of solar panels from ultra compact to laptop sized. We like the Powermonkey Extreme for it’s waterproofness and 9000mAh battery and the Solarmonkey Adventurer for its compactness and ability to be strapped – although if you’re using a laptop, you’ll want something bigger.

Solar Joos Orange – Really good looking product, relatively cost efficient. Product rated at 4 watts and has a built in 5400mAh battery.

Solio Bolt – A small and cheap unit – haven’t heard too much about it. Product rated at 5 watts.

Supernova – Available from the makers of the brilliant dynamo lights and hubs. Product rated at 5 watts.

Voltaic – Really nice looking products available at a good price. The Fuse models have clips which allow you to attach the panel to a bag or pannier – a great design feature for bike tourers! Products available from 4-17 watts.

Do you use or recommend a product I haven’t mentioned? Drop a comment with its details.

• battery supplies
• power resources
• solar panel
• solar power

I used the Suntactics S-charger 5 on my tour and rate it really highly. I had to make a mount for it to sit on top my rear panniers as it doesn’t come with one but it managed to keep a phone, tablet, kindle and ecig charged for 3 months. In good sunshine it charges like a beast.

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ae5edc56c9418a88d2218f68be46ee21ced66733293003f3dfaa29a9340ac2b5.png I bought a Mercury 10 Solar Panel Portable Solar Charger and battery Anker 2nd Gen Astro 10000mAh E3 and I am very happy with my purchase , effective and inexpensive

whats the price?

you can buy it from amazon

Check out portapow (UK). It has 11W and 15W solar panels.

http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/solar-chargers/

Hi Thanks a lot!

I recommend having a look over here: http://www.sistech.com

Real value… instead of printed one https://www.sistech.com/data/media/group/2494/testsolar4-g.jpg

Are all these panels used while off bike only or set up while riding?

If you can work out a way to attach them to your bike, you can use them for both!

Comments are closed.

Cycle Travel Overload

Bikepacking & Adventure Cycling

Best Portable Solar Panels For Camping and Bike Touring

Solar panels can be a great addition to any bike touring gear list and make a convenient camping companion. Allowing you do be essentially off the grid, and be up in the mountains charging your devices, to continue to get you on your way.

But it is not all sunshine and rainbows. Whoops. Pardon the pun there! No really using solar panels will come with some setbacks, but if you do your research (or just read the rest of this article) then you should have a good understanding of what to consider in a solar panel for your next adventure. Below is a quick list of the best portable solar panels for camping and your bike touring adventures.

• Goal zero guide 10
• RAVPower 45W

Anker Powerport Solar 21W

Suntactics – scharger-14.

Just quick…..

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Okay, let’s get back to the article…

Things to consider when choosing a solar panel for bike touring

One of the main factors to a solar panels’ effectiveness while camping is the weather. As obvious as it may sound, you need relatively sunny weather to power the solar panel. If you are going on a bike tour in a overcast time of year, you can expect to get very little use out of a solar panel.

Depending on what devices you plan to charge with your solar panel will also dictate what type of results you will get. The supply from the solar panel is too erratic for most smartphones and sometimes they don’t charge. If you are charging a iPhone for example they require a voltage above a certain level. When the voltage drops too low it seems to stop charging. With some solar panels it doesn’t start to charge again unless you unplug it and plug it back in.

I recommend and so do many other bike tourers, to charge a large power bank pack with the solar panel, and then this will accumulate power, that you then can use to charge your phone. But depending if you have a solar panel that is able to charge your phone on the fly. Some have experience that, it is more efficient to charge your phone directly instead of charging a battery bank and then charging your phone.

Is it lightweight? For obvious reasons you want a solar panel setup that is small enough and lightweight enough to pack away in your pannier when not in use.

You might want to consider a Dyno Hub, if you have the budget this method of charging on a tour is more expensive. But much more reliable. Depending if the weather is no good, a solar panel won’t be all that efficient. But a Dyno Hub will generate power as long as you’re moving. One of the better ideas about these is that you don’t have to worry about your lights running out as they always stay charged.

The watt amount of your solar panel is also important, you don’t want a small solar panel that only pumps out a couple watts. Most bike tourers use anything around 20 watts or higher. Also depending on your charge load you could get away with a lower amount like a 10W.

It is important to note, that some solar panels may not be able to charge certain devices that require a certain type of amps.

That leads me onto the next factor. How many devices and gadgets are you taking with you? Are you filming videos of your cycling adventures for YouTube? Or just need to charge your phone for directions? If you are producing content on the road you need something that will pump some power to charge multiple devices, like, a drone, camera batteries, your phone, and other bits and bobs.

Solar panels are perfect if you are planning to be away from civilisations for a few days. If you are heading of on a week long bikepacking adventure it the mountains, and the weather is forecasted for sunny days, you should be all good.

Keep in mind that solar panels charge your devices slower then the performance you could get out of a wall charge, at a coffee shop of something. The time available to charge is a consideration. So if you have the availability of society then it maybe a better option to just charge at a library or something.

This means you spend much more time sitting in the sun waiting for your phone to charge with a solar panel. But, having that said the point for a solar panel for me is to enjoy the outdoors while still being plugged in.

If you have the solar panel mounted on your bike while riding. The direction your panel is facing to the sun, any shade and other factors when riding around and always changing directions will effect the power you end up accumulating.

Goal Zero Nomad (7, 14, 28) Plus

The Goal Zero Nomad Plus range comes in three different models the 7, 14 and 28 watt. Depending on your intended use will depend on what model you get but they are used by bike tourers and recommended.

The Goal Zero Nomad has good mounting holes that make it great to strap to a seatpost bag for charging while on bike. or even like above, my favourite position is on dangling over the front handlebar bag.

For the review of this solar panel I am going to focus on the Nomad 7 Plus. It seems as though this product i popular with some bike travellers. I would like to recommend this solar panel but to be honest I am going to include it in here as a solar panel not to buy. As much as I like Goal Zero as a brand. I don’t want to recommend their products to you. I personally have the Goal Zero Nomad 7 (original version) and after using it for a while it barely charges my tech. Really annoying!

These new Nomad Plus models are good. They have a no-frills construction, good compromise between weight and ruggedness. Cache battery for more reliable charging of sensitive gear. Strong holes for hanging. But it lacks in the power department. Not putting out near as much power that is claimed. It has been tested by other users on a sunny day directly at the sun and only managing to get 3.5 watts out of it.

When charging your phone it would buzz on and off every time under a shade. It seems best to get the battery that comes with it if you are interested in it. Or charge directly to a power bank. However it seems like a hit and miss, some have had good luck with a Goal Zero Nomad 7 and a Guide 10 combo.

It was interesting to find out that Goal Zero and Suntactics seem to be the only camping panels that clarify what type of cells they use. Which are Microcrystalline Silicone, the highest efficiency cells on the market. Suntactics seems to be the better option with better reviews and user experiences overall. We will get to that solar panel soon. Anyway lets get into some better portable solar panel options for your next bikepacking adventure.

RAVPower 24W

The RAVPower 24W is easy to use, compact enough, comes with hooks and some cables, and it works best in full sun just like any solar panel. But charges things even under cloudy or rainy conditions. Works just as good or even better then the much more expensive Goal Zero panel. Well worth it!

These panels seem to provide such good value for money. The panels are really traveler friendly too; they don’t weigh much (26.5 oz or 750 g) and fold down into a neat little package. It comes with two micro usb cords and a few carabiner clips.

Has the option to charge 3 devices with a large storage pocket. It is a rally good solar charger especially in more overcast, cloudy conditions. It managed to charge a iPhone from 0% to 15% in one hour in very cloudy conditions. However, some users have mentioned that they would like to see improvements, with this chargers efficiency when there is low sun. But at the end of the day, this is a general draw back to all solar panels, is the ability to charge with minimal sun.

One thing to remember is this solar panel is not waterproof, it is advertised as water resistant, but it is not going to stand up to water on the panels.

This is one of the solar panels that stops charging your device, especially iPhones, if there is an interruption of solar charging. For example the iPhone 6 Plus will stop charging; hence, you will have to unplug and plug it back again. A minor con to this charger but again it is common with most solar chargers.

Don’t for get to get the external battery. As this device has smart tech that allows direct plug and play, but if you want to make sure your charge is uninterrupted due to a cloud or anything of that sort, just go ahead and grab an external battery and hook it up to this then run your device through the battery. The RAVPower 20100mAh Power Bank , has a AC Outlet Power option meaning that you can plug in your laptop wall charger and get charge on your laptop to write blog posts or edit youTube videos when you our out in the middle of nowhere!

The RAVPower 24W Solar Panel is a more affordable option at $69.99 on Amazon. Making it one of the better solar panel options for camping and your next cycling adventure!

The previous solar panel comes with 4 panels when this Anker Powerport Panel comes with three. Making it a smaller panel if you wish to mount it on your bike while charging, one less panel to flop around.

On first impressions of the solar charger the material is a very quality and hefty feel. On all four corners you get the option to mount it with carabiners. Has a velcro closed pouch on the side to store your devices and two usb ports.

From experience with trying to chase the sun all day when it was sunny out and trying to charge a 20,000 mAh batter pack only managed to get 2 bars charged on the bank. As good as some people say this solar panel is it is not the best option out there. Especially for the more expensive price at $139.99 on Amazon , we can suggest a better solar panel for the money.

A user did a test on this panel to see how well it performs. The results are as follows; a galaxy s7 edge was used in this test. “At first I was nervous because I was using the usb cable it came with and it only charged 2% in 20 minutes. So I switched my own usb cable and saw the difference instantly. I was on my porch and it got cloudy and charging estimated time was 3+hours. When the sky cleared out charging time changed to 2+hours. Then I moved the charger to my bedroom window and apparently the Sun hits better there because charging time changed to 1+hours. Phone was charged 100% within estimated time.”

The Suntactics sCharger 14 is different then most of the other solar panel options. As it is not designed to be mounted, with no pocket storage. it does have hook loops on each corner, so you could use it if you want to charge while riding your bike.

This device performs reliably day day in and day out. Efficiency of this product is breathtaking. Well worth the money. It is American made. Compared to many other brands including Anker and Goal Zero, this panel beats the competition when it comes to output and size/ weight.

Previous owners of the sCharger 5 from 3 years ago, still highly recommend that product as it continues to deliver to this day. Since then this new panel has the same sturdy design but the size of an iPad tablet. Out of the box the 14 is “dripping with raw power coming from “just” the sun!” It even charges electronics in full cloud cover while raining lightly!

Also they mentioned that, it is light weight, easy to lug around and very versatile. Good construction, nicely encased that water is not an issue. Must be directed just right towards the sun in order to maximize the performance. Still though, it works well in indirect light. You get what you pay for, not complaints

Was able to charge a iPad in three hours, that is starting at 3%, same as if I plugged into an outlet. In very poor lighting conditions, the sCharger-14 delivered 0.37 amps versus 0.13 amps for the Goal Zero Nomad 10.

Seems like a very good option for someone looking to use for camping and getting away on a multi day bike adventures in the wilderness. Costing $159.95 on Amazon from others experiences with this solar panel it is worth every penny!

BigBlue 28W

The last solar panel i wanted to include in this post is the BigBlue 28W. This is another option that I can recommend for you if you are looking to use on a bike tour. My mate, Eric has this solar panel and he took it on a Europe bike tour, where we explored mostly the UK. Ans as my Nomad 7 was not preforming well, we were both relying on it to charge our devices. And it worked exceptionally well, I was super impressed. He was charging his phone, power bank, laptop (through USB-C) and my phone too.

The Industrial-strength PET polymer fabric protects your panel from rain and fog, making it waterproof to a (IPX4 waterproof level). However the USB ports are not. They are hid away nicely in a zip pocket design, compared to other velcro ones on the market.

Only cost $59.99 on Amazon , with a 4 out of 5 star rating with 312 rating.

Solar Panel + Power Bank Combination

Recommend you get something like a 20,000 mAh power bank to accommodate your solar panel, any of the solar panel options above plus these power banks, will be a substantial off the grid charging setup.

With a power bank you want to try and get one that has the ability to be powered with a USB C input, resulting in a quick charge. If by now you want to avoid solar panels, again depending on your travel plans. You might be able to get by with just a couple lightweight and powerful power banks, providing power for days. If you go this route you are best to find somewhere to charge the banks over night. As most 20,000 mAh power banks typically take 8 hours or so to charge.

Solar panels are not entirely necessary if you are planning to go from powered camp site to powered camp site. But for me there s no real adventure in that. I prefer to explore the unknown wilderness and requires wild camping, so it always helps to have a off the grid solar panel charge setup as a back.

One thing I would like to see in the ultimate solar panel charger is if they would build in a battery pack, that has the option to charge while charging other devices. But this could use potential power that could be used to charge devices, but lets see what happens.

About The Author

Codey Orgill, a seasoned bicycle adventurer, has been exploring the world on two wheels for over 10 years. Since embarking on his initial cycling journey, Codey Orgill has traversed numerous countries, experiencing a series of epic adventures.

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Best Bicycle Solar Panels For Awesome Touring.

Overviews :.

Talk about technological advancement. It never fails to amaze me how the world has advanced in their technologies and made sure of human comforts. Bikes, supposed to be old fashioned are equipped with newest forms of technologies as well. Imagine the progress.

Bikers don’t have to be concerned about their electronic gadgets anymore as special Best Portable Solar Panels designed for bikes can easily charge them. So you get to enjoy your tour with no nagging in your head that your phone or any other gadget might run out of battery since the solar panels are keeping a watch on it. Isn’t that amazing? I would say that if you’re a biker who undertake tours of long durations, you must have a solar panel with you as the investment is quite worth it.

However you must understand how the panels perform and whether they’re compatible with your devices. Also the main concern here is weather. Best Portable Solar Panels, quite obviously depends upon the amount of sunlight received.

If you’re out in some rainy day, don’t expect an optimum performance. Also if your devices are not accepting the charge from the solar panels effectively or with no effects, once again it gets flop. So you need to know these things. However if it comes to weather, we know it changes and solar panels for bicycles can be used in the sunny days. Also other factors like durability, compatibility, weight and size are other factors to consider while you debate on your buying. Also the amount of watt.

Which is very important, I must stress on this fact. Overall I believe it’s a handy thing to have while on a tour for maximum comfort. Now that you’re clear about the aspects, let’s have a look at some of the Best Portable Solar Panels for bicycles you must check out.

What will the right Bicycle Solar Panels offer you?

1. goal zero nomad plus..

When it’s solar panels for your bicycle, it’s all about the watt. And here you get three types of panels with watts of 7, 14 and 28. You need to make your choice based on the type and duration of your tour. You also get mounting holes and you can effectively use it for steady strapping in order to charge your devices while you’re on your ride. Quite easy to setup.

Nomad models are quite awesome to use and based on reviews I can say that Nomad 7 Plus is what you should be looking out for. However some say that it doesn’t charge their tech properly.

Best thing to do? Try it out yourself and see whether the compatibility is favourable. Also it depends heavily on sunlight so the more shaded your area is, the lesser you have the chances of successful charging. So you should keep that in mind. Power supply is something quite debatable here. They use microcrystalline silicone cells which are proven to be most effective of all cells so that’s definitely a plus point.

• The Nomad 7 will directly charge most USB and 12V devices (not tablets). Most handheld USB devices, including: Cell phone, smart phone, GPS, MP3 player
• Collect 7 watts of solar power from the sun
• The Nomad 7 works best with the following Goal Zero products: Goal Zero Switch 8 & 10 Recharger, Flip 10 & 20 Recharger, Guide 10 Plus Recharger, Venture 30, Rock Out Portable Speakers, and Lighthouse Lanterns
• Foldable, rugged design, and weather resistant
• Use the USB and 12V ports at the same time. The Nomad 7 will split the incoming solar power between the two ports to charge devices simultaneously (Some devices may not be compatible)

2. RAVPower 24W.

I personally recommend it for your tours as the usability of this product is quite decent and you get it as compactly and handy with all the necessary accessories requisite for stable attachments. More awesome thing about this solar panel is its working effectiveness in conditions which are less sunny in nature. So that’s an added advantage. Cost wise it’s cheaper than the one above but its abilities surpasses even the Goal Zero.

Weight Wise it is just around 750 grams which is quite light in nature so you won’t feel like carrying some heavy loads on your bicycle. You get two USB cords as well (micro). You also get to charge approximately three devices and proven to be very effective in that too.

Surely water resistant as well. Advisable to get some external battery. All the factors here combine to inevitably say only one thing: it is one of the best solar panels for your bicycle.

No products found.

3. Anker Powerport Solar 21W.

I will begin by informing you that it only comes with three panels. Thought you should know. That makes it smaller than other solar panels designed for bicycles. However that shouldn’t necessarily mean that it’s any less than the above solar panels.

You get Velcro pouch for your gadgets and also USB ports (two).Review is quite mixed in nature with some claiming that it barely managed to charge their devices. Also the cost is on the higher side which makes many people to browse for some better solar panels. I can say this for sure that it all depends on the amount of sunlight it gets.

Sunlight is in direct proportion with its charging abilities. So you must check it out yourself to see if you consider it as one of the best solar panels for your bicycle.

• The Anker Advantage: Join the 50 million+ powered by our leading technology
• Fast Charging Technology: PowerIQ delivers the charging speed up to 2.4 amps per port or 3 amps overall under direct sunlight. 21 watt SunPower solar array is 21.5-23.5% efficient, providing enough power to charge two devices simultaneously
• Incredibly Durable: Industrial-strength PET polymer faced solar panels sewn into a rugged polyester canvas offer weather-resistant outdoor durability
• Highly Portable: Compact size (11.1 × 6.3in folded or 26.4 × 11.1in opened) and stainless-steel eye-holes on each corner allow easy attachment to backpacks, trees, or tents. Lightweight and ultra-thin design make it ideal for long treks
• What You Get: Anker PowerPort Solar (21W 2-Port USB Solar Charger), 3ft Micro USB cable, welcome guide, our fan-favorite 18-month warranty and friendly customer service

4. Suntactics – sCharger – 14.

It doesn’t carry any designs of mounting on bikes, just loops at corners. But when it comes to its working, it is phenomenal. It works awesomely in day light and in situations where the light is limited. It becomes, quite easily one of the best solar panels you can ever ask for your bicycle.

This product is very highly demanded and recommended by veterans and surely that counts for something. Weight is light, quite handy in nature, awesome performance and a good value for money is what sums up the Suntactics. No need to be concerned of water as well. So I would definitely recommend you to give it a shot because hey! This gives you all.

5. BigBlue 28 W.

Talking about awesome solar panels for bicycles, this one cannot miss the list! Awesomely charges your devices even when the day isn’t quite sunny, makes it one of the most sought after Bike with solar panels. Features include PET polymer which ensures that the panel isn’t harmed by rain or any water elements. Also you get zip pockets in place of Velcro which once again ensures 100% cover. What do I think? Better you check it out before you Zero in on your choice because this one might very well change it!

• 【Built-in Digital Ammeter】BigBlue 28w solar panel charger can measure the current real-time value, convenient to your use. Note that the value of actual outputs depends on your connected devices, sunlight intensity and the used cable. If your device has an limited input current of 1A (such as the iPhone), the amount of ammeter will show between 0.8A and 1A in theory.
• 【Higher Solar Conversion Efficiency】SunPower Solar Panels is the most durable panels at present, whose conversion efficiency can reach 24%. If clouds blocking the sun, this portable solar charger can detect intelligently the sunlight and restart to charge your electronic in 30s when there are enough sunlight. Foldable design and 4 carabiners is easy to carry for any outdoor activities such as camping trip, climbing, fishing etc..
• 【Exclusive Smart IC Technology】With the built-in intelligent chip, our solar phone charger detects your device then deliver its fastest possible charging speed( Single maximum output up to 5V/2.4A, dual maximum outputs is up to 5V/4A). Dual-port applys to all the 5V Android devices and 5V powered apple devices. Note: We don't provide the lightning cable for Apple devices.
• 【Special PET Polymer Surface】Industrial-strength PET polymer fabric and IPX4 waterproof panels protect your solar phone charger from occasional rain or wet fog, but the USB ports and ammeter are not water-resistant. The zipped pocket keeps your devices safe and clean while camping. Please don't place your cellphones inside the pocket while charging for fear of overheating and damage.
• 【Easy to Use & Friendly Customer Support】Please unfold four solar panels in direct sunlight in the open air ( No cloud and no shadow ), then connect your device to the usb-A port with your certificated cable. What You Get: 1x 28W Solar Charger, 1x USB-A to USB-C cable, 4x Carabiners and our friendly customer service.

These were some of the best solar panels for your bicycles but before we conclude, I must say that having a power bank always helps. So you must make a complete analysis of your tour before you decide whether you actually need the Bike with solar panels.

If you’re going in another town where you sure as well get electric supply then I don’t think you’d need a solar panel. It’s meant for days when you’re not in contact with the humans nor their localities. So better to think those stuffs up along with all the factors I’ve mentioned in the introduction before you choose your Bike with solar panels.

Product is available on Amazon.

How do I charge my bike battery with a solar panel?

Most sun based boards just put out under 20v, on a splendid radiant day that is, as they are intended to charge 12v batteries. Boards are associated with a charger regulator or MPPT, you would have to support the voltage out if your boards are to charge an ebike battery, most are 36v or 48v.

Can I charge my eBike with a solar panel?

At the point when you’re prepared to charge your electric bicycle – you should simply open the sun oriented board, associate the charger to the sunlight based board, and interface the charger to your eBike.

What charges a solar panel?

The sun based board changes daylight into DC power over to charge the battery. This DC power is taken care of to the battery by means of a sun based controller which guarantees the battery is charged appropriately and not harmed.

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Bicycle touring. Outdoor adventures. Solo female travel.

Solar panel for bicycle touring – is it a good way to charge your electronics?

After many years of relying only on power banks during my cycling trips, I decided to finally become more self-sufficient and buy a solar panel .  Is a solar panel a good way to charge your electronics on a bicycle tour? Which one should you buy?

In this article, I will help you decide if you need a solar panel for your bicycle travels and briefly review the one I am using – Anker PowerPort Lite 15W. 

Do you need a solar panel for bicycle touring?

I have survived four years of cycle touring carrying only a 20 000 mAh power bank. Even on my trip across Kyrgyzstan, I didn’t have a solar panel or dynamo hub. I just had to ensure that every couple of days, I stayed at a hostel, guest house or with a Warmshowers host to recharge my phone and camera. 

And to be honest, it was great! It was a terrific way to get screen detox because I had to save my phone battery. 

If you don’t plan to wild camp most of the time, and if your phone battery is still decent and doesn’t die after just a few hours of use, you can easily survive with a power bank. 

But after a while, I got tired of having to consider electricity access in my tour planning. That’s when I ordered a solar panel. 

Solar panel or dynamo hub

I was torn between getting a solar panel or installing a dynamo hub. Most people I met on the road had the latter and it seemed like a more reliable and weather-independent option. I would produce energy all the time, as long as I was cycling. I was a bit worried about the drag and being slowed down but other people ensured me they don’t feel it at all. But I wasn’t keen on going through the hassle of installing a dynamo hub.

I was very tempted to buy the bottle dynamo of PedalCell which seemed easier to install, especially on a bike with disc brakes but almost 400 euros was out of my budget. 

I started looking into solar panels. They seemed a more reasonable investment, especially since I could use them during hiking and camping trips. I knew my upcoming expeditions would be in sunny and warm countries, so a solar panel made more sense. 

How to choose the right solar panel for bicycle touring? 

Check the wattage.

Modern smartphones, tablets and other devices need quite a lot of energy. The higher that wattage, the faster they will charge. 15 W is the bare minimum if you use your solar panel mostly to keep your phone, camera and bicycle lights charged. If you’re also carrying your laptop, you will need something stronger.

Pick the right size

The bigger the surface the sun shines on, the more energy you can produce. But placing a large solar panel on your luggage rack might be difficult, so you might have to compromise here. Think also about how much extra weight you want to carry – maybe it will make more sense to get another power pack instead of a 1-kilo-heavy solar panel if you’re not going to be in the wild for too long. 

Think about where you will store the device while charging

Some solar panels have a convenient pocket where you can store your phone and cables while charging. Check how this pocket is designed. For example, in my Anker PowerPort Lite 15W, the pocket is only closed with a velcro strap, so I never put my electronics there but put them in my backpack under the solar panel. 

Check the connections

The golden standard in portable solar panels is at least two USB ports, one of which usually has a higher voltage to charge modern smartphones. Think about what devices you use and if your solar panel can charge all of them. Many modern cameras can be charged with a USB cord but if you have an older one, make sure to have enough spare batteries. 

Be aware that most solar panels don’t have an integrated battery, so you’ll need an external power pack anyway. 

Anker PowerPort Lite 15W Solar Panel review

When I was looking for a solar panel for my bicycle tours, everybody recommended Goal Zero solar panels . Unfortunately, the 20-watt version of Goal Zero Nomad was super expensive (almost 150 euros) and over 1 kilogram heavy. Looking for a low-budget solar panel, I run into Anker PowerPort Lite 15W. This model is not in production anymore, but I found one in a shop in my neighbourhood.

The price of 50 euros was very tempting, so I didn’t think twice. Especially since this model is exceptionally lightweight – it’s nearly impossible to find a 15W solar panel that weighs 365 grams! 

I was overall happy with it. When folded, it took up very little space in my bag. During the day, I placed it on my luggage rack and could keep my power bank charged. Then, in the evening, I could plug in my phone, my Garmin watch, my e-book reader, and my camera into the power bank and recharge them overnight.

In Albania and Greece , with plenty of sun and perfect weather, the charging was smooth, and I almost always managed to recharge my power bank to 100 %. Thanks to the dual USB, I can simultaneously charge the powerpack and, for example, the phone if I need to. 

It takes about 20 minutes to charge my phone at 10 % in direct sunlight.

In shade and on cloudy days, charging is unfortunately much weaker and slower.  

The power output is too small to charge bigger devices like a laptop, so if you’re a bicycle-touring digital nomad , you’ll need to find something stronger or ensure to stay in places with electricity whenever you have to work.

At the moment, Anker PowerPort Lite 15W is sold out, but if you happen to see it somewhere and are looking for a low-budget solar panel for bicycle touring, I definitely recommend you get it!

You can also check out its stronger, slightly heavier and a bit more expensive brother Anker PowerPort Lite 21W. 

Do you use a solar panel on bicycle tours? If yes, let me know in the comment which model and if you’d recommend it. This will help other cyclists find a good tool to keep their devices charged!

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Thanks for this , very helpful

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Anker PowerPort Solar Review: off-the-grid touring

Anker’s PowerPort Solar is a charging system suited to more powerful electronic devices, like larger iPhones and tablets. We head off-the-grid to the Peruvian Andes, loaded with framebag full of gadgets…

When I head out on an extended bike tour, I generally make sure I have a front wheel built up with my dynamo hub – a SON 28 wired into the excellent Sinewave Revolution . After all, while external ‘cache’ batteries are perfect for long weekends away (I suggest one with at least 5000mAh capacity), the ability to independently charge the likes of your GPS, smartphone, Steripen, and other electronic wizardry can be very useful during longer tours.

But for my most recent trip to Peru, I didn’t have a chance to rebuild my front hub into a 27.5+ wheel, so opted to travel with a solar panel instead. In the past, I’ve used small and light models that have worked well when conditions have been optimal, as they often are where I’m based in New Mexico. But as devices have become every more power hungry – particularly the likes of the latest iPhones and tablets – smaller panels often end up lacing in the consistency department, especially if conditions are cloudy. Given that I was visiting the Peruvian Andes on the shoulder season, I was expecting mixed weather. I also knew that charging points in this part of the world can be few and far between, and even when you track one down in a local barebones hostel, wiring can be notoriously sketchy…

For this reason, I opted to bring along Anker’s PowerPort Solar . It isn’t the lightest or most rugged panel on the market, but it comes highly recommended from around-the-world fatbiker, Ben Page , whose panel saw action across the length of Asia, and is now continuing to do so across Africa. Available from amazon.com at $60, its price is certainly hard to beat.

There are two models available. The slightly thicker and heavier (535g) 21W Anker PowerPort Solar, which I took with me, offers 2 USB outlets and promises up to 2.4 amp per port or 3 amps overall – in translation, this makes it especially well suited to quickly charging the likes of an iPhone alongside a GPS. The PowerPort Solar Lite (15W) features one less panel, a single USB outlet and a max of 2.1 amps; so it’s still perfectly capable at charging a smartphone or tablet. Both fold down to the same size, one that fits easily into my framebag. If weight is an issue for you, by way of comparison, a SON dynamo/Sinewave revolution will add around 250g to your setup, with very little packing space required.

In use, the PowerPort proved very impressive indeed, even in cloudy conditions. Charging time is eyebrow-raisingly fast – comparable to a 2.4 amp charger in an electrical outlet, when the sun is out. It proved amply powerful enough to charge my iPhone 5s directly in cloud cover, without the need for an external cache battery, as it often required for fussy Apple products. Over the course of the last month, I’ve also used it to charge a Black Diamond ReVolt headtorch and my Outdoor Tech Buckshot topped up, so I was never without those all-important podcasts.

Compared to some solar chargers, the PowerPort doesn’t include its own internal cache battery. I actually see this as a benefit rather than a hindrance: there’s less to go wrong electronically and when your external cache battery eventually wears out, it’s easy to source a replacement. The panel includes a sleeve to house the devices you’re charging. In practice, it could do with more velcro tabs to stop contents from sliding out. Still, the pouch is a handy way of keeping cables contained when the panel is folded away, so you’re not rummaging around for them elsewhere and can set the panel up quickly whenever you to for a lingering break.

In terms of build quality, I don’t think the PowerPort Solar can match the weather-sealed goodness that other more expensive models have, like heavier and more expensive models from Bushnell, Powermonkey, and Goal Zero. Although there are a eyelets to jerry-rig the Powerport to your bike, I’m not convinced it’s quite tough enough for long-term use in this way, at least on bumpy dirt roads. The side pouch could also do a more secure job at carrying devices you’re charging on the move, as mentioned above. Bear in mind too that given its unfolded size, you’ll need a fair bit of real estate to attach it to. On a similar note, it’s a shame the top corners don’t include reinforced grommets.

Thankfully, the panel charges so quickly that I don’t think strapping it to your bike is often necessary. Certainly, I was never left wanting. My usual MO was to leave it out at sunrise while I prepared breakfast and broke camp, and pack it away last just before I was ready to roll out. This time alone was was usually enough to charge my Wahoo Elemnt GPS , from around 50% to 95% and keep my iPhone alive (tips: keep in airplane mode, turn off apps not being used, drop down screen brightness, and store in your sleeping bag at night). If need be, I’d unroll the panel at lunchtime too, just to top up any other devices. As a result, I very rarely found myself hunting around for plugs as soon as I arrived in town… true off-the-grid touring!

• Very affordable way to keep devices charged on the road – considerably cheaper than a dynamo/new wheel.
• Works fantastically in sunshine and surprisingly well in cloud clover.
• Especially effective with high draw devices, like new smartphones and tablets.
• Double USB outlet useful for those travelling with a friend or reliant on multiple devices.
• Bulky and a little heavy compared to a dynamo (but reasonably light compared to similar solar chargers).
• Internal pouch could be better designed for carrying devices, if you’re using the panel on the move.
• Weight 18.9oz / 535g (compared to Anker’s claimed weight of 417g)
• Size open 26.4×11.1×0.2in / 670×282×5mm
• Size closed 11.1×6.3×1.1in / 282×160×28mm
• Place of manufacture China
• Contact Anker.com

Check the price online at Amazon

Anker’s PowerPort Solar is powerful enough that you don’t need to leave it on your bike all day, which is just as well, as it doesn’t feel hardy enough for riding rugged roads. In practice though, leaving it out when the opportunity presented itself – at breakfast and at lunch – kept my devices amply charged up for all my needs, even in cloudy conditions. It quickly became part of my packing system: the first thing to come out and the last to go away.

The inclusion of two USB outlets proved really useful, given that I often use both an iPhone and a rechargeable GPS to navigate. Plus, I carry an assortment of other USB-powered devices, like a portable speaker, headlamp, and a Steripen.

Gram-saving bikepackers will find the PowerPort Solar heavier and bulkier than they’d like, even if it’s actually on the light side, considering its generous wattage, when compared to its competition. If you need a panel for emergency use and occasionally topping up your phone in bright conditions, there are smaller, lighter, less powerful options around – though I’d argue that a 5000mAh+ cache battery is probably a better alternative (Anker’s Astro E1 is my current favourite).

As it is, the PowerPort Solar works extremely well and is particularly well suited to more demanding charging tasks. If you’re tethered to various electronic devices and striking out on a long tour, then it’s likely to be weight and space well invested. And compared to the investment you’d need to run an efficient dynamo hub system, it’s certainly very affordable.

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Solar-Powered Bikepacking

When planning to solo bikepack the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route , I romanticized that I would finish preparations with a healthy cushion of time before embarking on my journey. In reality, I learned that I would never feel completely ready to take on an adventure of that scale and that I simply had to start anyway. One thing that provided peace of mind, however, was carrying solar panels. By doing so, I knew I could charge my navigation tools almost anywhere and continue planning on-the-go as needed. 

The 10W PWR Solar Panel by Knog fits easily at the bottom of my framebag. I mostly needed juice for my smartphone, to navigate with the Adventure Cycling Bicycle Route Navigator app , and for my satellite phone, to update my apprehensive family. Although I could charge these devices when I resupplied in towns, I was reassured to know I would not find myself in a desperate situation if cold nighttime temps drained my batteries. Additionally, having the Knog Solar Panel gave me the rejuvenating option of taking a rest, or “zero,” day in the beautiful backcountry (as long as I had enough food and water) rather than in a costly or damp motel room. 

The Pros 

The panels worked very effectively in unobstructed sunlight. I would charge my phones directly if hanging out or, more often, I would charge an external power bank that I could use much more conveniently later, even while riding, if I needed to. I also discovered, when my framebag filled with rain one night, that the panels are as water-resistant as advertised (as long as the cable port protector is closed). 

The Stuff to Consider 

First, the technology has “solar” in the name for a reason. Without direct sunlight, like on an overcast day, the panels can maintain a device’s existing charge, but they hardly add any power, if at all. On a trip like mine, at altitude in the summer, finding sunshine was hardly a problem. But the panels might not be so helpful on a route like the Arctic Postal Road … 

Secondly, I realized a tiny bit of strategy is involved to charge a device in the sun without overheating it. My favorite method was to use a fairly long cable so I could place the panels in the sun and still have my plugged-in phone tucked away in the shade. 

Lastly, the Knog solar panel price ($99.95) matches that of all the comparable products I’ve seen. But I really appreciated investing in an external battery ($55–$120 from Knog), too, for the convenience. My power bank held 36 Wh (about three phone charges), so I usually only charged it once while resupplying in town and once more in between stops on longer stretches. 

All of that said, the solar panel and external battery were super worth the price and weight (roughly 16 oz and 7 oz, respectively) for me because they allowed me to feel safer on my ride and spend more time outside, protecting and enhancing my bikepacking experience! 

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Riding a Solar-Powered Electric Bike 6,900 Miles Across America

• Traveling the country powered by the sun to highlight the advantages of both e-bikes and solar power for reducing carbon emissions.

Sushil Reddy, founder of the SunPedal project , is using his legs and the sun to prove that solar power and electric bikes are viable solutions for reducing fossil fuel use and helping to solve the climate crisis.

Reddy, a solar power consultant from India, and his bicycling partner Luis Fourzan, a solar power advocate from Mexico, recently passed through Seattle on their 6,900-mile electric bike ride around the United States. 

“We are focusing on solar power, electric mobility and healthy living,” says Reddy. “This trip is about meeting people and sharing our experiences.” 

I pedaled to meet Reddy and Fourzan at Seattle electric bike manufacturer Rad Power Bikes , where they were getting some free tune-ups and mechanical assistance from Rad employees.

Reddy rides a Yuba “Boda Boda” cargo bike with two 50-watt SunPower solar panels ($85 each on Amazon ) mounted to the rear, providing 100 watts of photovoltaic power. The bike has been modified to add a hub motor in the front wheel made by the company Grin Technologies . The solar panels charge two batteries that Reddy carries in a frame bag.

The solar panels charge batteries stored in the frame bag.

The batteries power a hub in the front wheel.

The solar panels are larger than necessary for normal e-bike commuting, but Reddy’s goal is to prove a point and stimulate interest. “For daily commuting you don’t need such a bulky system. With this project we are showing that there are solutions that can work and which can be designed for daily commuting.”

Reddy and Fourzan began their SunPedal Ride in North Carolina in August, then pedaled up the East Coast through Washington, D.C., to New York before heading west through Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minneapolis, and across the northern plains through the Dakotas, Montana, and Idaho to Seattle. After a brief stop in Seattle, they headed south to Portland on their way to San Diego, where they will turn left and head to their finish line in the Fort Worth, Texas, area in December.

The pair average about 50 miles per day. “On a good sunny day the solar panels provide me with an extra 35 to 45 miles of power,” Reddy says. “On a cloudy day maybe just 10 miles extra.” 

Fourzan, who acts as a support rider to Reddy to help with logistics and route planning, is riding a Riese and Muller electric bike. They stay in motels and with people who offer free lodging so they can plug in, recharge overnight, and post updates on social media. Reddy tops off his battery to supplement the energy collected by the solar panels. 

The pair have attracted lots of local media attention during their journey, which is the goal as they spread the solar power message.

Within the next two years, they plan to do a similar ride in Mexico, where Fourzan works for a solar power financing company. Mexico has vast potential for tapping solar energy, he says. Fourzan is also studying the bike infrastructure in the United States to learn lessons that he can bring back to bike advocates in his home country, where he says many cities lack safe bike routes.

This is not the first time Reddy has undertaken an audacious solar-powered electric bike trip. In 2016, he launched SunPedal with a ride across India. In 2017, Reddy undertook solar powered rides in California, from San Francisco to San Diego, and France. He followed those trips in 2018 with SunPedal journeys in Iceland and again in India, and again in 2019 with a 60-day expedition through four major cities in India on a solar-powered tuk-tuk--a three-wheeled minicab popular in some countries. 

Electric tuk-tuk with solar panels on the roof.

“There is an urgent need to combat climate change by shifting towards a sustainable means of living and The SunPedal Ride project is an attempt to inspire people to change their individual lifestyle to adopt a more sustainable one,” says a mission statement on the SunPedal website.

Reddy is not the only person undertaking big journeys on solar powered electric bikes. In 2018, multiple riders raced from France to China on bikes with solar panels mounted to trailers.  

Maybe you’re next?

Luis Fourzan, left, and Sushil Reddy, right, outside Rad Power Bikes.

More e-bike info:.

Cascade Bicycle Club supports electric bikes as tools for replacing car trips, making bicycling more accessible to all, and reducing carbon emissions from transportation--Washington’s and the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Read our stories “ E-Bike Touring with a Cascade Member and Climate Activist ,” and “ The Car-Replacing Power of Electric Cargo Bikes .”

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Knog PWR Solar folds up 10W of photovoltaic charging power as small as an iPhone

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Knog’s portable PWR bikepacking power lineup goes self-sufficient with an ultra-compact new folding PWR Solar panel setup to recharge your adventures. Packing 10W of charging power that folds down almost as small as an iPhone Max, the new Knog PWR Solar could reshape how you keep all your electronic gadgets charged on multi-day bikepacking and adventure gravel bike rides…

Knog PWR Solar 10W ultra-portable photovoltaic panel

Knog’s PWR lineup got off to a rocky crowdfunding start several years ago, but has steadily evolved into a wide-ranging modular lineup of interchangeable PWR bank battery packs, on & off the bike lights , wireless speaker, and even a camp lantern they say is great for bikepacking. But all of those existing PWR systems relied on pre-charging batteries at home before the start of your adventure.

Now, the new folding Solar 10W PV panels – which Knog previewed in their ‘ In The Wild ‘ feature on YouTube last summer – will power your gadgets on the go…

Tech details

The Knog PWR Solar 10W is a compact folding set of four Sunpower Maxeon GEN 5 monocrystalline photovoltaic panels, with a built-in solar charge controller outputting a max 10Wp at 5V via a single USB port – an estimated 2A. Pair it with a power bank battery to store power for later, or charge your electronic device directly.

But the folding PWR Solar 10W isn’t meant to charge while you ride. The entire 5-part solar power setup is held together in a durable, rubberized case that accordion folds compactly for travel, and weighs a claimed 450g.

When closed it measures just 167mm tall x 97mm wide (compare that to a 161 x 78mm iPhone 12/13 Pro Max, or a 127 x 72mm regular iPhone), and is 35mm thick. Extended out to harvest the energy of the sun, the Knog PWR Solar 10W measures 540mm long x 175mm tall.

Magnets inside the case keep it close, but also make it easy to stick the panels to a large metal object when positioning it to catch the best rays of sun. Or hang the solar panels from the built-in D-ring, or simply lean it against a larger object facing the sun.

A set of 4 LEDs indicates good capture of solar energy to aid setup, and to show how fast it is charging your connected device.

I have to admit that I’d love to try it out. But at the same time, I’d really want to strap it on top of a big bikepacking saddlebag to see if it would survive charging as I ride, and not just waiting for camp at the end of the day.

Knog PWR Solar 10W – Pricing & availability

The new Knog PWR Solar 10W foldable photovoltaic panel set will sell for a relatively reasonable $100 / 115€.  That’s about the same price as you’d pay for a similar output mobile 10Wp PV panel from other trusted companies like Biolite or GoalZero . You can surely find a cheaper folding solar charger on Amazon.

But Knog’s solution looks to be much more compact and claims to use more efficient photovoltaic cells than pretty much any other comparable setup we’ve seen.

The trick, you can’t buy it just yet.

We’ve spotted the PWR Solar panel in a couple of online shops where you can preorder it now. But real availability online from Kong and their official retailers is expected in about one month’s time, in early March 2022.

Cory Benson is the EU Tech Editor of Bikerumor.com .

Cory has been writing about mountain bikes, enduro, cyclocross, all-road, gravel bikes & bikepacking for over 25 years, even before the industry created some of these names. Prior to Bikerumor, Cory was a practicing Architect specializing in environmental sustainability, has designed bike shops & bike components, and worked as a bike shop mechanic.

Based in the Czech Republic for 15+ years, he is a technical mountain biker, adventurous gravel rider, and short & medium-haul bikepacker. Cory travels extensively across Europe riding bikes, meeting with key European product developers, industry experts & tastemakers for an in-depth review of what’s new, and what’s coming next.

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Nope, I will just idle my V8 car and let the phone charge. Far less pollution than that disposable gadget.

No mention of waterproofness – the device is worthless if this is absent.

COMPLETELY WORTHLESS! I always like to charge things while it’s raining.

I have a nominal 10W polymer encapsulated panel that weighs 80g & cost $25. It doesn’t fold, but is still just 240mm x 140mm, so could be used to charge on the move. It claims IP64.

$75 & 370g extra for the Knog brand is a lot!

Sounds great, why go for Knog brand when your product sounds soooooo much better!

I have a 10 watt folding solar charger like that, but with the panels. I made an aluminium support for it that goes over the front wheel so it can charge while I’m going south. Used it on a ride to Santander, another to Southern France and one from Mumbai to Cochin. Worked fine. On sunny days it was sufficient to enable me to use the navigation app on the phone all day. Less sunny days, is just have to turn the screen of when it wasn’t essential.

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Solar Electric Bike Tour – The SunPedal Ride

* Electric Bike Report’s founder Pete Prebus contributed this interview. We’re always happy when Pete comes back to share the stories he’s covering in the e-bike world.

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Sushil Reddy and Luis Fourzan along their ~7,000-mile solar electric bike tour around the US.

Sushi and Luis were riding through Tucson, Arizona during their SunPedal Ride that is focused on raising awareness of clean energy and sustainable mobility.

And what better way to do that than riding a solar electric bike?

• The route and weather challenges
• Previous SunPedal Ride tours
• The inspiration for the tours
• How they promote solar and e-bikes
• The people they’ve met along the way
• The highlights and surprises
• How much the solar panels help & bike specs
• Comparison of the solar e-bikes to the traditional e-bikes
• Their impressions of US bike infrastructure
• Their tips for e-bikes touring
• What the future looks like for solar and e-bikes

Enjoy the interview!

It was great to meet Sushil and Luis in person as I have followed Sushil’s previous SunPedal Rides online and been inspired by his journey to raise awareness of solar and e-bikes.

They have been successful in garnering a lot of local media attention along the way and as you can see from their social media channels they have also had good connections with universities, energy groups, bike groups, and more.

Additionally, they have had many conversations with people just passing by who are curious to learn more about their tour. It’s hard to miss a solar e-bike!

Overall this is a great way to get out and spread the word about the possibilities of solar and e-bikes and I am excited to follow Sushil and Luis along with their adventures!

Reader Interactions

January 7, 2023 at 7:51 am

These guys are PR hounds and publicizing them does a disservice to your readers. It is fraud what they are doing and shame on you for promoting them. They say that they are raising awareness of clean energy and sustainability when actually they are doing very little of either. One hundred watts of solar panels provides very little recharging by solar and 90% or more of their energy is coming from traditional AC wall outlets. They could have been much more sustainable by using non electric bikes. Please print a retraction to your video/article. Why not do a video/article on the SunTrip who are actually promoting clean energy and sustainability?

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DIY Solar Ebike Goes Around The World, We Hope

[Mark Havran] is on a mission to complete a solo trip around the world on his bicycle. For such a long and arduous trip, unsupported by anything other than what he and his bike can carry, he has devised a unique vehicle with everything he needs to accomplish his journey. This bike has plenty of things we’ve seen before, such as solar panels and an electric motor, but plenty of things that are completely novel as well.

For such long-distance trips, the preferred style of bike for most is a recumbent. This allows the rider to take a more relaxed position while riding and is much more efficient than an upright bike as well. [Mark]’s bike also uses a hub motor in the front wheel powered by a set of lithium ion battery packs. The bike also utilizes four solar panels with three charge controllers (to reduce the impacts of panel shading) laid out with three of the panels on a trailer and a single panel above the bike to give him some shade while riding. [Mark] also built solar tracking abilities into each of the two arrays, allowing the solar panels to automatically rotate around the trailer and bike to more efficiently capture sunlight than a statically-mounted set of panels would be able to. They can also be manually controlled in case of high winds.

From the video linked below, we can see a number of other added features to the bike that will enable it to make such a long trip. First, he is getting a new motor which has a number of improvements over his old one, which he put over 30,000 kilometers on. Second, there are some safety features that deserve a mention such as his lighting setup borrowed from emergency response vehicles, and even includes a fire extinguisher for any catastrophic electrical failures. Of course, if you aren’t optimizing your recumbent electric bike for long distance there are some other modifications you could make to it as well to improve its off-road abilities . Best of luck, Mark!

47 thoughts on “ DIY Solar Ebike Goes Around The World, We Hope ”

That fire extinguisher will be of zero usefulness since the only fire that can start here is a Li-Ion battery fire.

Not true at all – lots of the electronics are handling more than enough current to potentially ignite their surroundings or themselves if things go wrong, and even a lithium battery fire is made manageable by extinguisher – also didn’t catch which style of Lithium battery he is using, some of them are much harder to burn than others…

You would be surprised, but ordinary cables can catch on fire too. This typically also looks very spectacular, with jets of fire like from a pyrotechnic vulcan.

If the article’s referring to the red cylinder mounted near the rear wheel, that’s not even a fire extinguisher. Its an MSR fuel bottle for a liquid fuel stove.

Ah ha! DIY turbo boost!

Fun idea, though got to wonder just how much or how often he ends up having to put in real effort. Its a long trip and at some points the weather is bound to be awful for solar, not like most e-bike rides where the battery could do the whole ride for the rider (probably multiple times over)…

I think if I was planning such a cycle trip I’d stick with recumbent, but ditch the trailer, as it seems like more things to go wrong – if you make the whole bike frame thing a little longer and covered with a fairing plastered in solar cells shaped something like the helmets velodrome cyclists use I think you could get more than enough solar area on the two sides and top, get better aerodynamics, and because its more sealed and more aerodynamic you will have a little more power to spare so might be able to actively manage the riders little microclimate in response to the varied conditions of the trip. Ultimately I think my idea might then end up being a trike, or at least having stabiliser wheels built in to fairing to prevent excess tilt in a strong cross wind.

I can see which path in optimisation he has picked and why, and it does seem a good one, but for such a long trip in the planning I think I’d side for making things more durable and comfortable.

Actually I think your off on thinking about the trailer. Doing away with it and adding more to a larger bike frame only adds weight to make control harder. The fact that bikes make for horrible tow vehicles is another issue. It’s my opinion that the trailer is the most practical method and I would have used an additional wheel on the trailer to relieve balance issues from that part. There are a few different reason I would do this, one is to make his tracking system a bit more stable, another is if the trailer were to be modified slightly, it could be used to carry more of the load along with some added travel provisions like a little more food for out there, ETC. The additional wheel wouldn’t have to be used with a much wider spread, just a foot or so. I would use a little hydraulic stabilizing system at the connection to the bike to assist in keeping upright at key moments of unexpected need.

Don’t need to add much weight at all (might even end up lighter), a largish fairing of Carbon or Glass fibre covered in Solar doesn’t need to weigh much at all. And I’d call it better placement for the added weight when thinking about control – as its mass you can directly counteract and feel its impact, trailers on the other hand do whatever they damn well please, and are behind you so if it wants to throw you for some reason you might not get any warning, or be able to do anything about it even if you do see it coming (this trailer might be light, but its got one heck of wind area to catch that shock gust or lorry shock wave)…

I also did suggest it would probably end up a trike – which immediately means you can do almost whatever you want weight wise and have perfectly good control.

But ultimately the reason to do away with the trailer is just that your most important asset for the long journey is hanging out behind you, where you really don’t have great control of it, the cables that make it useful are going to be flexing around often so quite possibly going to fail – its just not as durable an arrangement.

Which to me, when the goal is to go so very far is more important, you need one of durability and very simple repairs (ideally both), this is two motors, solar panel, suspension, mechanical and electrical linkage all essential to functionality of the trailer, and none of it the easiest things to find a replacement or fix out in the sticks somewhere. The fairing concept will be much harder to damage, any damage is probably not terminal to the trip – you can live with it till you hit a city you can source parts or its a simple repair with the kit you’d have to carry on hand.

If you two added wheels and handlebars to your engineering armchairs you could have your own recumbent bikes. “Well if I were doing this I’d build a teardrop faired trike with air conditioning” “I’d use hydraulic stabilisers to stop the trailer from tipping over”

With or without a head/cross wind this is a silly idea

A fairing concept should have massively massively less drag than this, you only push the air out the way at the front once, and let it flow back smoothly behind you – this is all turbulence and air catching surfaces for maximum drag – though at slow air speed drag won’t matter so much, so if he is aiming to keep it slow being poorly aerodynamic won’t matter that much, only really in high winds – and most folk would choose not to cycle in those (though personally I always found that (within reason) to be the most fun cycling).

Maybe a fairing works out worse against a cross wind – but then that trailer is such a massive lifting body if its angled even slightly wrong when the gust comes I’d rather have the fairing – directly feeling the action of the wind against something you are directly connected to and probably right at the centre of mass and pressure so all the forces don’t have great leverage over your ability to shift your weight means you should have good control – being yanked about by the wind actions on the trailer all acting through the pivot point a distance behind you is going to be much harder to control.

They don’t state the motor drive power.

The nanny state down here for the most part mandates that the bike is EN 15194 compliant and the drive power limited to 250W for a pedelec.

https://acdcbikes.com.au/blogs/news/electric-bikes-law-a-comprehensive-legal-guide-to-e-bikes-in-australia-updated-for-2020

250W wouldn’t move that rig up hill very fast so I presume it might have somewhat more.

Yes this occurred to me too – what the different regulations will be for each country he attempts to travel through…

At least it can charge up while he waits for customs clearance at each border.

I’m disapointed in myself that this didn’t occur to me at all, I’ve been moaning how stupid the rules on Electric personal transport is for ages – like in UK its legal to hire and use a powered personal scooter thing, but you can’t own one and use it… The power limit as an idea seems sound – but really its the wrong approach, doesn’t matter how much power it can draw really, just how fast it can go electrically and how much it weighs- as those are what defines the damage you will do in an accident and once you get beyond a sensible cycling speed and weight you really are a motorbike. So should be under motorbike legislations.

I expect being all software controlled he will just state it is set to x – whatever the rules of that nation require, even show the border folks the settings, then silently turn it back up once he is through, as long as you don’t ride like an arse or really go too fast so you look like a motorbike nobody will ever know…

okay, let’s assume that weight of the machine and max speed are the definitive factors in the rules on electric personal transport. Then how would that work out for a person of 50kilo versus a person of 150kilo? In other words, the person riding the machine might contribute the most to the total weight of the moving mass. Using the engine power is not a bad idea at all, since this truly limits the amount of power you can add to the system (motor power combined with overal friction (which is liked to be higher for the heavier person) will determine the max. the speed, which is also limited by other rules). Having no power limits would certainly be a bad idea anyway.

Down here at least, it’s already mandated that electric assist must cut out at 25 kph. It would be technically trivial to electronically regulate or just limit the maximum rate of acceleration also, so that is a parameter that could be legislated instead of the currently piddly 250W power limit. Then you could actually have e-bikes that can power up hills without being pedestrian-mutilating drag machines.

A bicycle has multiple sources of power so a 50W motor with a 50W elderly person will have a different top speed to a 50W motor and a 400W tour de France contestant. Even that 50W motor may have a peak power of 1000W. I much prefer speed limits and weight categories, they’re harder to fudge and are how we govern cars.

Oh and you mention rider weight varying, yes that makes weight a harder measure of danger but for vehicles it’s accounted accounted in your Gross Vehicle Weight Rating I.e. what’s the maximum this vehicle can safely carry including itself. If you’re over that rating you’ll get pulled over and fined. If you crash while over it your insurance is invalid. The same can sort of apply to bicycles since they have a maximum load rating. Say to meet the ebike category your unladen weight must be less than 30kg and your gvwr must be below 180kg.

As I could go 30mph (traffic permitting) carrying 20kg+ of crap and on a heavy hybrid mountain bike on road tyres, seems like 30mph (or slower) with a max bike weight of say 40KG is reasonable to still be a bicycle. Its well within human ability to do just that…

Just ban Twist and Go throttle – you must pedal and keep the top speed and max weight reasonable, then it is fair to keep it the less regulated Bicycle over a motorbike/moped – remember those things have 30Kg or more of engine and a big steel frame, massively heavy wheels, even hitting you at 5mph its going to be nastier than the ebike in the above ballpark going quickly, and those mopeds can go faster too, motorbikes much much faster…

Remember all rules are basically arbitrary – so picking any number that seems reasonable to prevent abuse of the tech is good enough – no such thing as a good reason why all vehicles in the UK can be 2.5M wide, but you get to be 2.55M, (or was it more – definitely wider) if you are a refrigerated van (yes there are wide loads etc but any old vehicle can be that wide) – yet with how narrow many UK roads are legally locking most vehicles types down to 2M, or 2.2, 2.3, heck down to 1.5 etc might make more sense, and why should a cold van get to be wider than legal for anything else that can just use the roads normally (I’ve not looked at these rules in a while, so numbers are perhaps erroneous and maybe they have been updated at some point, but arbitrary they definitely are).

Why would you ban “Twist and Go” throttle?

I’d say if anything, were to be banned it would be pedal controlled throttles, as they’re usually pretty imprecise, and there’s no safety benefit that I can think of.

Only the most expensive pedal controlled throttles are proportional to pedal torque. Most are simply a magnet sensor that applies a fixed throttle (Low, Medium, High) whenever the pedals are turning. With the higher end torque based sensors, most people turn them up to the point where they’re effectively full throttle any time the pedals are turning anyway, so they’re not all that different in general practice.

On my commute, the majority of ebikes are essentially just running full throttle with the rider turning the pedals at 50RPM. Because there’s no proportional control on most of them, you can’t actually ride at lower than full throttle unless you stop the pedals and coast, and just turn them to boost your speed back up, etc. Seeing as the speed and power limits are pretty low, usually 24, or 32km/h depending on region, most people would probably ride at full speed anyway, but at least with a thumb or twist throttle, you can have some finesse at lower speeds instead of being all or nothing.

When I’m riding my ebike, and following a non-motor cyclist up a hill, I’ll ease up on the throttle, and make a nice wide pass at a reasonable speed. This would be impossible with most pedal controlled setups. you’re either off the throttle, in which case you’ll be decelerating, or you’re on full throttle, in which case you’re probably going to blow by at maximum power. It’s actually difficult to ride this kind of bike smoothly.

The two types of control are actually reversed from how they’re typically perceived. A pedal controlled throttle is basically just forcing you to ride with little effort, and as fast as the controller will push you (unless you change the power settings up and down constantly). A manually controlled throttle actually lets you more easily adjust how much, or little pedal assistance you want.

You ban twist and go IMO so you remain a bicycle – rather than having legal, license free ebikes that are really just unregulated electric motorbikes – stripping things like pedals and the human motive element, to make the best motorbike they can while fitting whatever the rules are – as you give Bicycles and I assume even electric ones to those too young to be trusted with a motorbike/car etc it to me seems important for such an unregulated form of transport to remain as idiot and child proof as possible…

Also I’d never heard of such primitive pedal control, so didn’t know there was actually a potential controllability issue – I’ve had one experience on an e-bike, and it was great to ride – while young, fit, with no trip I’d take proving too much at the time and broke, its all been normal cheaper end bikes personally..

That’s the problem, though. Cycling purists trying to impose their ideals on everyone else.

It’s almost as if they see anything that could make them better(in a particular situation) than a normal bike as if it’s unfair competition.

It shouldn’t be seen as competition to bicycles, but to cars.

There’s always lots of cyclists boasting about how they’ve never needed a motor, and it’s somehow wrong to remove/reduce the requirement of leg power, yet very few of them ride as their primary, or only form of transportation.

ebikes make it possible for people to get around without cars in a lot of situations where they would be unwilling or unable to on a standard bike, whether due to injury, lack of fitness, or just lazyness (if that’s even the right term).

I’ve seen lots of fair weather cyclists call e-bikers fat and lazy, and then drive to work any time it’s cold or cloudy or they don’t feel up to it, while the ebikers are still commuting on their bikes regardless.

Removing the requirement to turn the pedals doesn’t make it any more of an “electric motorcycle”. If it has the same motor and controller, it will be just as safe. Does it really matter if they’re turning the pedals with minimal effort, or holding down a thumb throttle? Either way they’re getting the same few hundred watts from the motor, with whatever they want to add with their legs.

I don’t think there’s anything that makes the vespa style scooters any less safe than something that looks more like a bicycle, so forcing them to put pedals on to keep it legal as a bicycle is super dumb, especially when they’re so wide and weirdly positioned to be completely impractical to use, and potentially dangerous to other cyclists.

IMO, the biggest danger to ebikes is giving inexperienced cyclists the ability to ride fast, before they’ve gained the riding experience to do it safely. I think this is what gives people a natural dislike for twist/thumb throttles, or scooter style bikes. The reality is that even with pedal throttle, that rider’s going to be just as inexperienced, and bad to ride around.

Arguably, if we take away all the advantages of an ebike, and make it as much like a normal bike as possible, people won’t ride them, and we won’t have those inexperienced riders flying around at 32km/h. The problem is that instead, they’ll be flying around in their cars at 60km/h instead.

Trying to turn people away from ebikes is often the same as turning them away from bikes.

Most people aren’t going to go straight from driving, to being a hardcore cyclist overnight. Ebikes are a great way to get into biking, and many of those riders will probably get more into bikes in general.

I’ve always liked bikes, but was never an every-day cyclist until after I got an ebike. Now I mostly ride my road bikes, leaving the ebike for bad weather, or days when I really don’t feel up to riding.

I have nothing against e-bikes, I just have never needed to travel a sane distance to cycle through terrain that was too much for me, and being forever broke won’t cough up for the e-bike as I don’t need it. It is not at all about making e-bikes more like ‘pure’ cycling, just keeping enough requirements in their build process that they do not end up become motorcycles in all but name – as you don’t want to go letting any age and any skill level zoom around on ‘motorcycles’ – there is a reason they have licence requirements and are regulated.

And if you take away all the cycling elements as a requirement for unregulated electric bicycle you will end up with bikes that are effectively unregulated motorbikes – and that is bloody stupid as an idea, as being unregulated its what you give those kids that are no where near mature enough adults yet to be trusted with a moped/motorbike, but probably old and responsible enough the parents don’t follow them round keeping them in check and would rather like them to haul themselves around more often – and we all have been younger and stupider, even a grumpy old man in outlook decades early like myself was stupid on occasion…

I don’t know why no power limits would “certainly” be a bad idea.

The main speed-related danger I see with ebikes, is when I’m climbing a steep hill at 10km/h, and and ebike makes a close unexpected pass at 25. If I were to swerve to avoid a pothole or something, it could cause a crash, because I’m not expecting riders from behind to be approaching with that much speed differential. The funny thing is, that a few hundred watts of continous output is plenty to make this kind of speed differential on a long hill. I’ll might do around 300w sustained on a long steep hill, so an ebiker pedaling at 175w of leg +350w of motor will have a huge speed advantage.

I’ve never been bothered by another bike accelerating from a stop too quickly. If anything, the opposite is true. Often ebikers have their bikes in a stupidly high gear and rely on their motor to get them moving. It’s not unusual for them to be pretty wobbly and slow if they ever need to start on a hill where the controller is holding them at the current limit. A more powerful motor would quickly get them up to speed quickly and avoid the wobbly starts, especially on larger cargo-bikes, etc.

I would begrudgingly agree that some form of speed limiting is probably a necessary evil, but there’s really no need for power limiting on a bike with a 32km/h top speed, IMO.

Really, I don’t think even fast acceleration causes any danger on ebikes. A speed limit, sure, so you don’t have people flying past other cyclists at 50km/h, but if it’s limited to 25 or 32km/h depending on the region, it shouldn’t really matter if you’re doing that with 300w, or 3kW. In a lot of cases, more power is actually going to be safer, because it’ll let you get rolling with a lot less wobbles if you have to start on an uphill, etc. It would also be nice if you could ride faster with a license, etc. I can ride my 75kW gasoline sportbike around with no technological limiters on the speed or power, but it’s illegal for me to do 40km/h on my ebike. Really, why is one okay, and not the other?

Because of dumb politicians who not only don’t know anything about what they’re writing laws about, they refuse to learn, wallowing in their ignorance like pigs in mud.

the question is: how much, in %, he travel by solar and how much by muscles?

We humans are all solar powered. Our plant-based food stores solar power as mass, beef stores that solar power as mass too.

So I would say it’s 100% solar powered.

Only if you ignore fertiliser from fossil fuels, and red diesel for tractors etc.

Fossil fuels are also based upon solar power. And they are renewable, it only takes some time.

Fossil fuels too are stored solar power. From a while ago…

Adult Mouk FTW!!

There are some other great long-distance solar ebikes (including recumbents, uprights, streamliners, and even a tandem cycle!) that participate in The Sun Trip: https://www.thesuntrip.com/en/the-most-incredible-solar-bikes/ Its a series of international solar ebike races, typically several thousand kilometers through several countries.

why on earth does he have that bracket for the top panel orientated that way.

Huge amounts of aerodynamic losses! Why bother carrying so many panels if you are just sacrificing efficiency

While I do somewhat agree his head would fill much of that bracket zone creating drag, you don’t want it in the way visibility wise, and he has mounted all the running lights to the back of it – so it is probably the best way to mount it building this style of bike – and going slowly its not going to be that bad as drag and velocity are not a linear relationship, nice and slow the drag won’t count for that much.

I’d rather a more proper fairing, but to each their own, engineering compromises no matter what you build…

In a way, it has already traveled around the world, via Internet

There is nothing new under the sun. (Ecc. 1:9)

https://microship.com/computing-across-america-online-today/

I should probably search Hackaday to see if they have any posts about CAA or Nomadic Research Labs.

That bike had more computing power than most corporate computer rooms at the time.

This guy too. Solar panel, recumbent bike, computer. https://hackaday.com/2009/09/18/vintage-video-computing-across-america/

There was someone who lugged a Kaypro 84 around the country on a recumbent bike in the 80’s.

Same guy. CAA.

I see he used a sensible recumbent design- short wheelbase and low steering position. I see so many with the steering tube coming up between the rider’s legs where they have to hold the weight of their arms up as long as they are riding. Ugh! In a crash you know where that tube is going, and your arms will get tired in a matter of hours.

Long wheelbase bikes, especially loaded ones, suck at going slow, especially up hills.

Is there really that much to be gained by sun tracking? I’ve seen some work where it looks like a flat panel still gets you about 85% of the output regardless of sun orientation (perpendicular to sun is 100%), And of course I cant find it now!

Well, it wasnt the one I was thinking of, but there you go- looks like a flat panel will receive about 80% of one oriented ideally. And much of the time (here in the cloudy UK), the radiation is diffuse. https://www.viridiansolar.co.uk/resources-1-3-tilt-and-orientation.html

What you can get off axis is very panel dependant – some of them have interesting mico lens etched into the glass front, or better optic properties of the covering etc, and the actual silicon beneath can be of a few different forms, with different feature types – it all makes some difference.

I can say with certainty that the particular panels on our roof don’t do near that well off axis, probably between 40-60% once you get into acute angles…

You can get reasonable efficiency on a static panel which is initially oriented for the maximum average power. If you’re rolling around, the best you’re going to do is straight up, which is going to be far from ideal when you’re anywhere but the equator.

If you can’t rely on any orientation, then the best is actually flat – like is done on boats. A vertical orientation would result dead spots. According to the paper I linked to, flat isn’t as terrible as it sounds.

The best all around angle if you son’t have a 2 axis tracking mount is to aim the panels due south (or north for southern hemisphere) and match the north/south tilt angle to your latitude.

If you’re depending on the panels for winter heating then it might be best to set them at the angle where the sunlight will hit them straight on at winter solstice to maximize the % conversion from the reduced winter light.

Or do a three position manual mount to change four times a year. Low for Winter, High for Summer, center for Fall and Spring. Change at each equinox and solstice.

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Solar Ebike Systems

Page Last Modified On: October 11, 2022

Solar Kit Introduction

We've had customers building solar charge systems onto their ebikes ever since our earliest days in this business, but interest has really grown in recent years. Solar panels are lighter, cheaper, and more efficient than ever before, and using solar to charge an ebike battery is eminently practical in many situations. 

In 2018 we finally participated in the Suntrip solar bike race from France to China , and in the lead up to this event we developed a custom branch of our Cycle Analyst firmware that added solar power logging to the already rich feature set. That gave us the basis for providing solar kit packages explained here.

Basic Hardware

The key elements of our solar ebike systems include the following items:

Solar Panels

MPPT Boost Charge Controller

Cycle Analyst

Solar Current Sensor

Solar DAux Buttons (legacy)

Wiring Hookup

A cable harness needs to connect this MC4 output to the Anderson Powerpole input of the MPPT charge controller. The output of the MPPT charge controller needs to flow through the Solar Current Sensor (if a CA3 is being used), and then into the charge port of the battery pack. In some cases you may also splice into the discharging port of a battery pack, but be aware that you may not have BMS overcharge protection this way.

Multiple Panels

The easiest hookup is with a single solar panel, but more often than not solar ebike projects involve two or more solar panels all charging the same battery pack. There are a few ways to wire things up.

• The panels can be wired independently with each having its own MPPT charge controller. The outputs of the MPPT charge controllers are then wired in parallel to the battery input. This approach has the best performance when some panels are partially shaded or are oriented at different angles, but it is also the most expensive approach since you need multiple MPPT devices.
• If you are using panels that have the same or at least very similar current ratings, then you can wire your panels together in series and treat them as a single larger panel. This has the effect of increasing the panel voltage while the current stays the same. You can do this as long as the combined voltage is less than the max input voltage of the MPPT, and also less than your battery voltage. If the total voltage of your panels in series is higher than the battery voltage, the boost mode MPPT charge controller will not function properly. Series connected panels should be oriented in the same direction; you do not want them facing different angles to the sun (eg. one tilting and one fixed).
• If you have panels that have the same voltage (ie same number of solar cells) then you can also wire them up in parallel, as long as the combined current of both panels is within the input current range of the MPPT charge controller. The Genasun charge controllers are specified to 8A max input current, so you can't hook up two Sunpower panels in parallel as that could supply up to 12A and exceed the rating. The imported programmable MPPT's we carry support 15A, so you can hook up 2 and (for the most part) 3 panels in parallel OK.

Within these constraints, we generally advise hooking up panels in series if your MPPT at Battery voltage supports it, and if not hook them up independently (if you have $$ to spend on MPPTs) or in parallel (if you are being thrifty). See our youtube video on this very topic. 

Cycle Analyst Settings

Vehicles equipped with a V3 Cycle Analyst have the option to monitor solar charging current and amp-hours on the display, independently of the current flowing to the motor controller. This is accomplished with a Solar Current Sense wired inline with the MPPT output leads and a special solar CA firmware.

The signal from this solar current sensor plugs into the white 3 Pin Auxiliary input plug on the Cycle Analyst. The solar firmware can be downloaded via the CA Setup Utility software and once installed it repurposes the Aux Input pin as a current sensing source.

There are two settings that must be set for the solar current to read accurately. The current offset will zero the current voltage point on the input to be zero amps, while the current gain scales how this voltage is converted into charge amperage. On the Grin supplied current sensors, the calibrated gain is laser engraved on the surface of the device.

If you are using a 3rd party current sensor or are unsure of the devices calibration, it is possible in a pinch to wire it up in series with the battery discharge leads and calibrate it against the discharge amp-hours. Both the solar watts and battery watts should read exactly the same.

Mechanical Installation

Securing all of this hardware to your vehicle is now your fun problem to solve! Solar panels are large and awkward, and require the construction of a rigid support structure that doesn't interfere with your handling of your bike. Most people use 1 or more of the approaches below:

Stowed Solar : Finally, if your main goal is to your ebike off grid and chill out for a while, then you may not need to bother mounting the panels at all. Just carry them with the rest of our camping gear and set them out to recharge your battery at the destination or at various stopping points along the way. No special framework or custom fabrication required.

Range Estimation

Our analysis of solar bikes on the Suntrip race showed that on average people were getting just under 4 watt-hours of energy per nominal panel watt. That's averaging out the cloudy days, sunny days, days riding through forests and cities full of shadows and days riding through open plains.

This is a great metric for getting a ballpark idea of how much extra charge a given solar panel would bring in. Expect a single 100 watt solar panel to average about 400 watt-hours each day, or enough to get a typical 500 watt-hour ebike battery to 80% charged. Any individual day could vary from this by quite a margin, up to 7-8 wh/watt on perfectly sunny day, and as little as 1 wh/watt if it's thick dark clouds overhead.

From there you can extrapolate how far it will take you in kilometers or miles based on your wh/km usage metric. The table below shows some examples of expected range from an average day of solar. 6 wh/km would be someone who uses their ebike motor sparingly, 10 wh/km is typical for using assist all the time but at modest speeds, while 15 wh/km is typical if you are carrying heavy loads and riding fast.  

Is this really worth it versus just buying an extra battery?

This is an excellent question and we used to routinely challenge people building solar bikes to ask if the cost, weight, and complexity of a solar system really outweighed the cost and weight of more lithium battery. This metric used to favor adding more batteries. If you had the ability to charge up from the grid each night then you were better off buying additional lithium batteries than buying solar gear. Only when grid charging was not an option did solar start having merit.

However, as with so much in renewable energy land the tides have turned. For instance, a 170 watt sunpower solar panel is $300, the MPPT charge controller is $75, and their combined weight is 3.5kg. In sunny summer weather, this will reliably produce about 900-1000 Wh of energy per day. By contrast, a 900-1000 watt-hour lithium battery costs about $700, and weighs closer to 6kg.

Of course the solar system is much more involved to transport, and has additional cost and weight for mounting the panels. The justification is also weather and season dependent, increasingly so the higher your latitude. But on the surface you can see the economic appeal, not to mention being free from searching from hunting down charging outlets each day.

You will never recover your electrical savings, that's not part of the "is it worth it" equation. Electricity from the grid is dirt dirt cheap, so much so that it doesn't even factor in any lifecycle ownership cost analysis of an ebike. Nobody is saying you should build a solar ebike to save money on your electrical bill. But even for home charging a solar setup can be a very practical way to charge your ebike battery if you don't have grid power near your bike shed.

Do I really need an MPPT? Can't I just wire the panel directly to my battery?

In principle yes you can get a solar panel that is higher in voltage than your battery pack and wire it up directly and it will charge. However this approach has the following downsides:

• As your battery voltage changes and the sun conditions change, you may get quite far from the optimum maximum power charge point. You will be charging much slower than if you had an MPPT device in the system. You will spend more on extra solar panels to compensate for this than you would on the MPPT controller.
• By necessity, the open circuit voltage of the solar panel will be higher than the full charge voltage of your battery pack, and that means you are 100% relyant on the BMS circuitry of your battery pack to prevent overcharging. If the solar panels are inadvertently hooked up to the charge port of the battery or the BMS circuit fails, you can be at serious risk of overcharged lithium cells and ensuing unwanted pyrotechnics.

Can you use a buck mode MPPT?

Yes, in principle you can have a total solar panel voltage that is higher than your ebike battery pack and use a buck style MPPT charge controller to step the voltage down to your battery voltage. This is how most 12V solar charge systems are configured, as well as all large scale solar installations. But there are not many buck mode MPPT charge controllers on the market that are compatible with the common ebike battery voltages (36V, 52V), and it would require that your panel voltage is quite high, at least 60V or more. 

How important is it to tilt the panels toward the sun?

If you are a geek and technical optimizer, it is of paramount importance. You will spend half of your cycling day thinking about sun angles and devising mechanisms to track it. If you are a pragmatist, you simply point them facing up to get the best average and forget about it, being grateful for all the watts you get, and still wind up harvesting 80% or more of what the technogeeks pull in.

Most of the total daily energy input comes in the middle of the day when the sun is overhead, and an upward facing panel does a pretty good job capturing it. In the mornings and evenings with the sun lower on the horizon, a correctly tilted panel can have 3-4 times the output of one facing straight up, but this significant benefit only exists for a few hours of the day.

What is this about diodes, hot spots in shaded cells, and other stuff?

The behavior of solar panels gets a lot more complicated when a part of the panel is shaded while the rest is in full sunlight. In this case you have most cells with enough sunlight on them to produce the full amperage, while the shaded cells can only supply a small fraction of that current. In a series circuit connection the amperage flowing has to be the same everywhere, so either two things can happen:

• The current flow is limited to that of the shaded cell, meaning you only getting a fraction of the power that the sunny cells are capable of supplying.
• The shaded cells develop enough reverse bias voltage that a large current flows anyways, along with a corresponding reduction in the output voltage of the panel. Most types of solar cell drop 10 to 20 volts when current is forced through them, and that causes significant heat in the shaded cell and a precipitous drop on the panel’s output power (V*A). The Sunpower cells are exceptional in this regard, in that they start conducting current at about -2.5Volts, so the amount of heat when current is forced through a shaded is quite negligible, and the total drop in output power is a lot lower too.

Because of this, many of the caveats about partial shade cover on a solar panel and the need for pass diodes etc. does not apply with the Sunpower panels that we stock.

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Solar Photovoltaic Panels on Ebikes, When It’s Worth Using Them

• 7. June 2023 16. June 2023

Solar panels efficiency increases every year, yet their power to price ratio & power to surface ratio are still insufficient for ebikes. Nevertheless…

Featured image courtesy of Elektrek

Mounting photovoltaic panels on ebikes: surface to power ratio is an issue.

Solar photovoltaic panels don’t produce much electric energy per square meter of surface. We can roughly reckon some 260 Wh per square meter, with a flexible solar panel only 3 mm thick, for top quality solar panels. Still, there’s no way to set even a flexible solar panel with one square meter of surface on any ebike. Exploiting luggage racks, we guess you could install a total of half square meter of solar panels on your ebike. That would bring their power output, i.e. the electric energy they can produce, to more or less 140 Wh. Just consider that the declared power output of solar photovoltaic panels always refers to peak power, the maximum electricity they can produce when they can get the most sun energy, that is in a sunny day around noon. In these conditions, for instance in Spain, solar panels with a 100W output would add some 85W per hour to your battery. Indeed, not all electricity produced by the panels would be stored by the battery, since the transmission via the charger involves a dispersion. The same happens when you charge at home with a sector plug. Just look at the picture above, from Elektrek ,  two photovoltaic panels with a surface of about 0.3 m² and a combined output of 100Wh were mounted on that ebike.

You wouldn’t like to ride a bike like that, would you? Perhaps you would feel more at ease with the bike pictured below:

Ebike with solar panel mounted on the canopy. Artisanal but worth considering.

Nevertheless, an ebike battery, say a 250 Wh range extender, could be charged from 20% to 80% in just a couple hours. We explained here how batteries should ideally be charged from 20% to 80%, and the last 20% takes much longer. Not bad, especially for long trips when you could charge while riding.

Citkar e-cargo delivery bike

It’s better for cargo ebikes and e-trikes

In order to carry heavy and bulky payloads, e-cargoes and e-trikes, and cargo e-trikes, like the Citkar , present large surfaces where solar panels could be easily installed, be they removable or fixed. Photovoltaic energy would be particularly useful for day long delivery trips, allowing charging on the go of the main or sole battery, although only for certain batteries. An additional battery or a range extender can always be charged on the go, though.

Cube Trike Cargo Hybrid e-cargo bike

Solar panels are still kind of expensive

Regarding the price of photovoltaic panels, we can approximatively reckon 1,4 euro per watt of power, a 140W photovoltaic solar panel costing around €200. Add to that more or less the same sum for a solar panels control. That can be paid for, if you are to use a solar panel to extend the range of an e-cargo bike for deliveries, or even enjoy longer trips in the nature with your  ebike. Anyway, their price per Watt power keeps decreasing year after year.

Under what conditions is a full charge possible?

If your ebike is exposed to sunrays all day long, because it’s parked in a sunny place or because you are riding in the sun, eight hours would be enough to fully charge a 500Wh battery, with 0.3 m² of solar panels.

Bergamont E-Cargoville LJ Expert e-cargo bike for the 2023 season

How to mount solar panels on your ebike

You should mount them on the luggage racks if you’ve got a normal ebike. If you’ve got any e-trike, or an e-cargo bike, you could set them on the roof or on the cargo container, using rigid fixed panels on the former and flexible removal ones on the latter.

You will need some solar panels specifically made for ebikes, like the ones for sale by OZO , best quality SunPower panels that should be coupled with a solar charge controller just like those you can buy at Genasun ‘s. Count around €200 for each one of them.

Solar powered ebikes charging stations

Sometimes it’s difficult or too expensive connecting an ebike charging station to the grid. Charging stations powered by photovoltaic panels and storage batteries can be a good solution, especially if the surplus energy can be sold to the grid, for instance in off peak season. Even hotels could benefit from such solutions.

Flexible solar panel OZO, 140W, priced at 199 €

A trekker’s experience: flexible panels are much lighter

On the Facebook Ebike Touring Group , Chris Barker, an experienced ebike trekker, published the photo below, with this comment: “That’s the old 100 watt panel. It was a rigid one but heavy as hell. I just upgraded to a 150 watt flexible. The 100 watt panel works great but I wanted a little more power. Now I can charge at 2amps no problem and that’s my preferred rate. Also the flex panel is 13 pounds lighter.” 

Chris Barker’s solar ebike-trailer

We thank Chris for letting us publish it.

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Solar Energy & Electric Bikes: A Perfect Match

There are a lot of reasons to love solar energy. It’s environmentally friendly, it’s a renewable resource, and it helps reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

But there’s another reason to love solar energy: it’s perfect for powering bikes! In this blog post, we’ll discuss the benefits of using solar energy to power your bike, and we’ll show you how easy it is to do!

How Do Solar Electric Bikes Work?

Solar powered are made of photovoltaic cells, more commonly known as solar panels. These cells are made of semiconductor materials like silicon. When sunlight hits the solar panel, the photons knock electrons loose from their atoms.

This creates an electric field that allows electrons to flow freely through the material. This flow of electrons is called a current, and it’s what powers your bike!

There are a few different ways to harness this power. The most common way is to use a solar panel to charge a battery, which then powers your bike lights and other accessories. You can also connect your bike directly to a solar panel, though this is less common. For more info on how solar works, click here .

Benefits Of Using Solar Panels With Electric Bikes

1. environmentally friendly.

Solar energy is a renewable resource, which means it’s never going to run out. And because it doesn’t produce emissions, it’s much better for the environment than fossil fuels and doesn’t contribute to climate change.

Electric bikes are already environmentally friendly because they don’t produce emissions . But by powering your bike with solar energy, you’re taking things one step further!

2. Convenient

Solar-powered electric bikes are extremely convenient. You never have to worry about running out of power, and you can charge your bike anywhere there’s sunlight. This means you can ride your bike without ever having to stop at a gas station!

Plus, solar-powered electric bikes are easy to maintain. There are no oil changes or tune-ups necessary, and you don’t have to worry about charging your battery. Just give your bike a good cleaning every now and then, and it will be good to go!

Solar-powered electric bikes are just plain fun to ride! There’s nothing quite like cruising down the street on a sunny day, knowing that you’re being powered by the same energy that’s making the plants grow and the flowers bloom.

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Plus, solar-powered electric bikes are a great way to show your friends and neighbors that you’re doing your part to save the planet!

How To Solar Power Your Electric Bike?

If you’re interested in powering your bike with solar energy, there are a few things you’ll need to get started. First, you’ll need a solar panel. There are a variety of solar panels on the market, so be sure to do your research and find one that best suits your needs.

Second, you’ll need a battery. Again, there are a variety of batteries available, so be sure to find one that’s compatible with your solar panel and bike. Third, you’ll need some wiring to connect everything together. And lastly, you’ll need an adapter to plug into your bike.

Once you have all of the necessary equipment, simply follow the instructions that come with your solar panel and battery.

Why Aren’t Solar Powered Bikes More Popular?

To generate enough electricity to power the average electric bike, you need a large solar panel. This can be expensive and impractical for many people. Additionally, solar-powered bikes require more maintenance than traditional bikes. The batteries need to be regularly cleaned and charged, and the solar panels need to be kept free of dirt and debris.

What Does The Future Hold For Solar Electric Bikes?

As solar technology continues to improve, it’s likely that solar-powered bikes will become more popular . The cost of solar panels has dropped significantly in recent years, and they continue to become more efficient.

Additionally, new battery technologies are being developed that could make solar-powered bikes more practical and affordable. Only time will tell what the future holds for solar electric bikes!

Are Solar Powered Electric Bikes Expensive?

Solar-powered electric bikes can be more expensive than traditional electric bikes , but the cost is slowly coming down as solar technology improves.

Additionally, solar-powered bikes require more maintenance than traditional bikes. The batteries need to be regularly cleaned and charged, and the solar panels need to be kept free of dirt and debris.

Solar-powered electric bikes are a great way to go green and have fun at the same time! They’re environmentally friendly, convenient, and easy to maintain. Plus, they’re a great way to show your friends and neighbors that you’re doing your part to save the planet!

If you’re interested in powering your bike with solar energy, be sure to do your research and find the best products for your needs. And who knows? Maybe one-day solar-powered electric bikes will be the norm! Thanks for reading!

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Shop lightweight solar charger solutions for bicycle touring.

3.5x1.1mm Extension Cable - 1 Foot

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Solar chargers for bicycle touring.

• What chargers do you suggest for bicycle touring?
• How do you attach the chargers to the bike?
• How do I get the fastest charge times on a bicycle?
• Panniers or trailer?

Most riders opt for a solar panel kit or Fuse solar charger when riding. The bigger the panel, the faster your devices will charge and the large devices you will be able to charge.

The Fuse systems have a universal attachment system that lets you clip the charger onto your bike. In the ideal situation, you strap the female clips onto your panniers or another part of your bike and then clip in the male end of the clips and tighten the straps.

The kits come with corner mounts. Use your favorite webbing to secure the kits to your bike. We like the 4 foot extension cord with the kits as this lets you secure the battery inside your panniers. The panels and the connection between the panel and the extension cord are waterproof, but the battery is not.

The three biggest determinants to charge times are the weather (sunny/cloudy), shadows and angle of the panel. You cannot control the weather, but you can control the last two.

Shadows Try to get the panels as far away from your body and seat posts as possible. This will decrease the likelihood that you create a shadow that falls across the panel and decreases output.

Angle The best orientation for the panel is perpendicular to the sun. It depends on your route, time of year and geographic location, but you might want to set up your panels so that you can adjust them over the course of the day. Example: if you are pedaling due West across North Dakota, you would want to tilt them so that they point to the left (South) of the bike. When you stop for a break, make sure to adjust the panels for optimum charging.

From a strictly solar gathering perspective, trailers will typically outperform panniers as you will get fewer shadows on the panel which means more power production. But customers use both setups successfully. We also have seen a number of creative mounting solutions including this one mounted on an Xtracycle with a continuous GoPro recording system.

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How To Charge Your Electronics While Bicycle Touring?

Do you wonder how could you charge your electronics while travelling on a bicycle? Sometimes it’s not easy to find a plug if you are cycling in remote areas. For those situations there are many systems available on the market. 

One of the main problems you have when travelling on a bicycle is how to charge the batteries of the electronics you use, like your mp3 player, mobile phone, head torch, GPS and camera. Of course you won’t have this problem if you decide to sleep in a hotel every night but what if you sleep in a tent nearly every night far from towns?

There are some products on the market specifically designed for these situations. From portable solar chargers to mobile power banks. Let’s discuss the different options to find what is the best system according to your needs.

1. HUB DYNAMO + ADD-ON SYSTEMS

A hub dynamo is a small electrical generator that is built into the hub of the bicycle and allows you to use the energy generated while pedalling. There are many options available from different manufacturers. The following ones are the most popular ones.

The SON28 dynamo is the dynamo we have installed on our bikes. Although it’s expensive at $250-300, it is low resistant and generates energy at slower speeds (16km/h) compared to other dynamos on the market. Also it comes with a 5 year warranty which is quite useful if you are going for a multi-year trip.

The SP PD-8 dynamo hub claims to be the lightest (390 grams) and most efficient dynamo hub on the market. It’s also much more affordable than the SON models and they cost around $130. A great option for budget travellers. 

SHIMANO DH-S501

The Shimano DH-S501 is the cheapest of the three hub dynamos at around $90-95. Its main benefit is that is virtually drag free and ultra-efficient. It’s a fantastic option if you are just planning short trips but not the best option for a round the world trip, as it’s durability is not very high.

But a having a hub dynamo on its own is only useful to power your bicycle lights. If you want to take its capabilities to the next level you need an add-on to use the energy produced to be able to charge your electronics. There are several options on the market but these two clearly outperform the others: E-werk and BioLogic ReeCharge Unit. 

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

• Voltage: Between 2.8 y 13.3 Volts
• Electric Current: Between 0.1 y 1.5 Ampers
• Cables provided: USB, mini-USB, micro-USB and 2 cables without a plug, so you can weld the one you need.

BIOLOGIC REECHARGE UNIT

• Can be charged directly via USB, from a computer or other wall source.
• Compatible with iPhone and iPod.
• 1600 mAh Lithium polymer battery.

2. PORTABLE POWER PACKS

It’s more and more common to see long term cyclists carrying a laptop these days.  Until now, there are no dynamos on the market that can charge a laptop (or that we know of, so if you know of one please tell us in the comments!). So if you are riding in remote places and you are not able to check into a hotel room, a powered campsite or stopping somewhere for a couple of hours to charge it, a portable power pack can be a solution. With these systems the general rule is the better ones are also the heavier and the more expensive but they can deliver more power in one charging cycle. Here you have some of the most popular options.

HYPERJUICE 2 EXTERNAL BATTERY PACK

The HyperJuice 2  is the next generation of battery pack that feature an advanced battery management and monitoring system. Equipped with a high capacity 100-watt-hour lithium ion battery, this is a top of the line battery pack. An OLED screen provides detailed battery information like percentage power remaining, temperature, time to full charge and discharge.

NOTE: To charge a Macbook you need to purchase the Do-it-Yourself Magic Box kit  separately.  

LIZONE EXTRA PRO

The Lizone Extra Pro enables full speed laptop DC port (up to 4.5A 90W) and USB port charge (up to 2.1A) and universal compatibility. Highest efficiency energy efficiency rate 10% above the previous generation. Charge with speed multiple devices simultaneously with the 6.6A total output. Broadly compatible with both USB charging port and a DC Output laptop port, charge a wider range of tech devices. 

ICLEVER INTOCIRCUIT POWER CASTLE

The iClever Intocircuit Power Castle , with a capacity of 26000mAh, provides 1 full charge to most laptops or approximately 12 cycles to most smartphones. A budget-friendly option for using on bicycle tours. Check the laptop compatibility list before purchasing. 

3. PORTABLE SOLAR PANELS

The technology with what solar panels are made has evolutionated amazingly fast in the recent years. Just about 5-10 years ago the portable solar panels available on the market could barely charge a couple of AA batteries after being long hours sitting on the sun. Nowadays, the situation is different and there are some models out there that can even charge a laptop. Here the best models we recommend.

POWERADD FOLDABLE SOLAR PANELS

The Poweradd Solar Panels  have a transformation efficiency up to 22% (similar products on the market have a 15%). It’s equipped with a voltage regulator to ensure stability and offers a wide compatibility. It has a DC port to charge 18V-laptops and other 18V-powered devices and a USB port to charge any other 5V USB-charged gadgets like smartphones, tablets, etc. They have different models depending on the size and power of the panels.

ALLPOWERS FOLDABLE SOLAR PANEL

The AllPowers Portable Solar Panels  are also a great choice for bicycle touring. With a transformation efficiency up to 19% they are a more affordable option. It has a USB and a DC port to charge both 18V (like laptops) and 5V powered gadgets. It also comes with convenient eyeholes to enable easy attachment to fit on the back of your bike.

12 Responses

Hello thanks for the pictures.I would love one of these,but would love to know how your wire it up between the dynamo lights,generator and E-werk?

Many thanks.

Hi Karl, The e-werk comes with a couple of “hubs” where you can connect 2 wires. In that way, you connect the cable of the E-werk and the cable of the lights to the “hub”, and the hub to the dynamo. Does it make sense?

I use a Son28 wired to an E Werk.I then connect that to a B&M cache battery which allows me to charge my iPhone whilst riding.The battery means the voltage to the iPhone is constant so there are no issues of the charging cutting out.I can charge up anything that uses a 5 volt lithium battery.Plus I have a Power Monkey solar panel charging up an Anker battery, this allows me to charge up an iPad , plus anything that needs charging over night.

Great set up. So the B&M cache battery is the solution to charge an iPhone with the e-werk then. Thanks for your input, Andy!

Hi! I’m using SON 28 dynamo, a USB plug from cycle 2 charge, a cache battery, a power bank and a solar panel if I go for long trips. On my website you can find more information about this very interesting theme.

Wow, you have all the options Frank. What is the one you find more useful while on tour?

Hi Frank, I clicked on your name and came up with Racing Mokkasin on Tour, is that you? It seems none of it is in English, so hard to read about your very interesting theme! Sharon

I agree that generators are great for charging electronics. Growing up, the only time I really used generators was when doing lawncare and landscaping. As a result, I missed out on other good uses for generators. Looking back, I wish I would have owned one myself, that way I would have been more inclined to use one.

Hi Antonio, Thank you for your this website. It helps me a lot to find about bike traveling. How do you charge AA / AAA batteries for head lanterns? I am planning to go two-week tandem bike tour in near future for the first time. I might need to get a solar charger to charge electronics. But I don’t know how to charge non-USB using devices. Thanks.

I use the e-werk to charge AAA batteries. It comes with 2 cables where you can weld the type to connection you need. I got an electrician friend to weld the one I needed for my battery charger. I’ve seen some people having battery chargers that use a USB plug, but I haven’t been able to find one for myself.

Hi adventurous fellows ! for light and charging AND a generous gesture to the needed have a look at the WakaWaka (bright light in Swahili) ! A compact high-efficiency solar panel with integrated battery and LED-lights. To be had as just that OR with a charger for external gear. The extra beauty is that for every WakaWaka purchased, ONE will go to a family that has no acces to lighting (or uses dangerous gasoline lamps). We have been using them on bike tours over several weeks in Vietnam, Cambodja, Malawi, Eastern Europe and more. Great buy in every aspect !

Wow I never even heard of Epiphany onE Puck, I need to get myself one of those! This is such an informative article!Thank you for posting this. More power to your blog

Top 12 Best Electric Bike Solar Charger: Your Ultimate eBike Solar Charging, and Solar Panel Options for Electric Bikes

Electric bikes are popular because they’re so energy efficient! Did you know you can ride an electric bike 100 miles for $1? You may want to consider an electric bike solar charger and solar panel charging, however, if you care about the environment.

You can move solar panels around and bring them with you – these are like portable chargers for your battery-powered bike!

Today’s topic focuses on solar charging for e-bikes and whether it is a good way to charge your battery. You’ll also get our 12 best electric bike solar charger options.

Read on below to find the best solar option to charge your bike because you do not want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Table of Contents

Best Solar Current Electric Bike Charging Options

To give you an overview of the best solar e-Bike charging options you can get, here’s a table that shows our top picks for Solar e-bike chargers based on features, price, and user reviews.

We didn’t rank these options from best to worst since they all serve different functions for different situations, as you can see in the table above.

Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel

• Up to 23 percent conversion efficiency, save time while getting more energy
• It has ETFE on the surface, so it’s longer-lasting and more durable
• With a stand, you can adjust the angle for more sunlight

The Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel may be the perfect choice for those who want to keep their e-bike battery topped up with solar current. 

The panel itself is equipped with a current sensor and is capable of delivering up to 100 watts in full sun. 

It’s ultra-lightweight, making it easy to transport and even easier to set up – no more struggling with bulky panels or having to hire an electrician! Plus, you can always count on Jackery’s legendary reliability when it comes to quality products. 

On the downside, its price point is quite high compared to other portable solar options, and some customers have reported that it doesn’t deliver as much current output as others in the same range. 

Also, it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing product out there, with its plain black plastic construction.

All in all, however, the Jackery SolarSaga 100W Portable Solar Panel is a great choice for those who want to keep their e-bike battery charged and are willing to pay a bit extra for reliability and convenience. 

With its current sensor and lightweight design, this panel will make sure you’re never left without power when you need it most.

X-Dragon 20W SunPower Solar Charger

• The X-DRAGON portable solar panel has a smart IC, that automatically adjusts voltage and current to achieve maximum power, delivering up to 2.8A when it’s sunny
• X-DRAGON’s foldable 40W solar panel uses US-made solar cells that are up to 23.5% efficient. This is 50% better than common panels, which are 15% efficient
• A rugged high-wear Oxford fabric offers weather-resistance and durability for outdoor activities and environments.

The X-Dragon 20W SunPower Solar Charger is a great option if you’re looking for a reliable solar charger with a high energy conversion rate. The built-in MPPT charge controller and conversion kit allows you to easily convert your harvested energy into usable power. The Pro Gen technology helps boost the efficiency of the system even further, making it one of the most efficient options on the market.

On the other hand, some of its downsides include the fact that it can be too large for some camping trips and not as portable as other models. Additionally, it’s relatively expensive compared to similar models, so you may want to look at other options if you’re on a budget. 

Overall, though, the X-Dragon 20W SunPower Solar Charger is a reliable and efficient option for anyone looking to reap the benefits of solar energy. It’s an ideal choice for those who want something that will last and efficiently convert their harvested energy into usable power. Plus, it comes with Pro Gen technology for added efficiency. The only potential downsides are its size and cost, but these should not deter you if you’re in search of a reliable charger.

Get the latest price for the X-Dragon 20W SunPower Solar Charger by clicking here .

BLUETTI SP120 120W Solar Panel

• It’s got the highest-efficiency monocrystalline solar cell, with up to 23.5% high efficiency, 5% more than normal monocrystalline
• It’s made with laminated technology and the long-lasting ETFE material allows it to last outside for a long time
• Those adjustable kickstands make it easy to set up, and you can adjust the angle to get the best light

Are you looking for a powerful solar panel for your off-grid dream setup? Look no further than the BLUETTI SP120 120W Solar Panel . 

This motor kit is one of the most reliable options on the market and it’s easy to see why. It comes with a charge controller that has an ultra-smart MPPT pin for efficient energy management, so you can be sure that your energy needs are met. 

Plus, its design ensures maximum conversion efficiency in low light conditions. The weatherproof construction means it stands up even in the harshest elements without a single issue – perfect for outdoor activities. 

And if you’re worried about portability, don’t be! This thing weighs just 5 lbs so you can take it anywhere with ease.

Just like the Jackery Solar panel, it’s a great mid-market option and is also well worth the price. Speaking of which, check the latest pricing here .

EF ECOFLOW 110 Watt Portable Solar Panel

• It’s portable & self-supporting, making it perfect for short rides
• Due to its waterproof construction, it can be used even in the harshest weather conditions.

The EF ECOFLOW 110 Watt Portable Solar Panel is the perfect way to share the sun’s power. 

It takes just one simple step to get started, and before you know it, you’ll be saving money on your electricity bills and taking part in renewable energy sales. 

Its portability makes it easy to take this amazing piece of tech wherever you go, ensuring that you never have to worry about running out of juice.

This panel comes with some great features like an adjustable kickstand so you can optimize the angle of your solar panel for maximum performance. Plus, its built-in MPPT charge controller provides efficient operation even in low light conditions. 

On the downside, this panel isn’t exactly pocket-sized and might not be the best option for camping trips. Also, it doesn’t have any weatherproofing features so you’ll need to take extra care when using it outside in wet conditions.

You can usually get the EF EcoFlow Solar Panel for a steal. Check the latest pricing here .

Topsolar Flexible Solar Panel 100W

• This solar panel is only 0.1 inches tall and weighs 3.97 pounds, so it can be used in most situations where normal solar panels can’t
• In addition to dirt resistance and self-cleaning capabilities, ETFE materials are tough and easy to clean.
• Solar panels made out of waterproof materials. Better than glass and aluminum

This Topsolar Flexible Solar Panel 100W has an interesting feature: it’s bendable, so you can put it wherever you want to charge your electric bike. It’s also easy to fold and put in your bag.

Monocrystalline solar cells, back contact technology, and removing electrodes on the solar cell surface that block sunshine make this panel up to 50% more efficient than ordinary solar panels. 

ETFE is the material used in the solar panel. The ETFE material transmits light better and lasts longer than ordinary materials. A TPT backplane provides excellent heat dissipation, waterproofing, high temperature resistance, and easy cleaning.

It’s perfect for charging 12-volt batteries. You can connect more than one panel in series to charge 24/48 volt batteries. In order to protect the battery, it needs to be used with the controller, and the solar panel can be easily connected to the controller.

The Topsolar flexible solar panel is available in three wattage options; 50W, 100W, and 200W. Check the latest price on each right here .

Durecopow 20000mAh Portable Outdoor Waterproof Solar Power Bank

• With Steady-SOS-Strobe mode, you can use the LED lights as flashlights.
• The dual USB ports are controlled by an intelligent IC and offer high speed 5V/2.1A charging, so you can charge two devices simultaneously. Compatible with most devices.

The Durecopow 20000mAh solar charger is not a full solar charger, but it doubles as a power bank to charge your phone while you’re on your electric bike. It’s not going to connect directly to your ebike out of the box, but with a few modifications you’ll be able to use it as a battery backup.

With its compact design and hook + carabiner, you can attach it to your backpack while camping, and it will charge itself under direct sunlight in case of an emergency.

There is only one place we’d look for the Durecopow 20000mAh solar charger, and you can usually find a deal on it here .

WEIZE 200 Watt 12 Volt Solar Panel Starter Kit

• These solar panels are corrosion-resistant and weatherproof thanks to their anodized aluminum frames, tempered glass, and sealed junction boxes.
• This industrial-standard solar panel measures 36.4″ x 26.8″ x 1.2″, has a 2.6 foot cable, generates 300-600Wh a day, charges 12v batteries, and can be used for RVs, cabins, sheds, and other small power needs.

Featuring Monocrystalline solar cells which offer a high efficiency of up to 21% compared to Polycrystalline solar cells, the WEIZE solar panel has a long lifespan and requires little maintenance.

It’s also got everything you need to set up a full-blown solar power station. You can check out the latest price here.

BigBlue 42W Portable Solar Charger with Fast Charge

• The 42w BigBlue solar charger is made with waterproof SunPower solar panels and durable fabric.
• It has two USB ports, one with fast charging, so it’s compatible with most 5V USB devices, like iPhones, Androids, iPads, batteries, etc.
• Folds like a briefcase, lightweight and portable, so it’s great for a long camping trip or if you’re traveling somewhere where there’s no electricity.

The BigBlue 42W Portable Solar Charger is dependable and efficient. 

It’s big and bulky, but the sacrifice in portability means it charges fast. It did a great job charging multiple devices and in marginal or partially shaded conditions. 

The large size makes it a great way to charge all kinds of electronics. I know it’s a behemoth, but if you need a little more firepower, it may be worth it. These options are great for car camping with an eBike and other situations where portability isn’t as important.

The BigBlue 42W Portable Solar Charger is a cheaper option than most on this list, but you’ll have to get the latest price here .

Bakcou Solar Panel

• With a clear view of the sun, a 14.5ah battery can be charged within 4-5 hours.
• You can request Bakcou for custom connectors/wires on purchase. This is pretty convenient since you don’t have to make a DIY for unsupported ebikes.

The BackCountry (Bakcou) solar panel is a large outdoor charging option for electric hunting bikes. 

It comes in a portable and foldable mesh fitted with nine, 18V solar panels for maximum efficiency. Weighs only 6.5kgs, so it’s not too heavy to store on your ebike or backpack.

This solar panel from Bakcou costs a wallet-tearing $899 USD, but it’s still worth it. Especially when you wanna go on long rides out in the wilderness.

Portable E-Bike Solar Charging Station

• QuietKat offers a 1-year warranty on all its parts.
• Each QuietKat portable solar ebike charger comes with financing.

Despite not really being compatible with other brands of e bikes besides QuietKat, this solar panel ebike charging set pretty much takes the top spot for charging QuietKat ebikes.

eBike charging panels connect directly to bike batteries to maximize efficiency. You can set up the panel while sitting in your deer stand, fishing on the water, or relaxing at your campsite.

Once the panel is exposed to direct sunlight, charging takes about the same amount of time as from a traditional outlet. With the included bag, you can carry the panel easily in any of the QuietKat pannier bags for easy transportation.

You can get the QuietKat portable solar charging station from their store for $699 USD, which is really good considering it comes with 18 solar panels connected together.

Apowery Solar Panel Kit

• PWM algorithms provide full battery protection: under/over voltage, output overload, short circuit, and anti-back-connection. They improve charging efficiency by 20% without consuming additional energy.
• The panel is protected from weathering and wear by high efficiency monocrystalline solar cells, a heavy duty anodized aluminum frame, and tempered glass coating.
• Each corner is equipped with a protective case to protect the glass plate and make them more sturdy. Fast installation with pre-drilled holes on each panel for fast mounting and securing. Compared to similar items.

With the Apowery Solar Panel kit , you’ll be able to charge various 12V batteries off grid for off grid applications like an electric bike, shed, cabin, gate opener, etc. However, it’s not compatible with lithium batteries. That’s a bummer, since most electric dirt bikes nowadays use lithium batteries for better efficiency.

You can however modify the wiring to accommodate a lithium battery. But that will cost you a lot more. However, this is a good solar charger for e bikes that still use lead acid batteries – like kids’ ebikes.

The Apowery Solar Panel Kit is the cheapest option on this list so it’s great for those on a budget. Check the latest price here .

Goal Zero Nomad 14 Plus Solar Panel

• The LED indicator shows the strength of solar conditions and how fast the battery is charging.
• Nomad 14 plus has an auto restart feature, meaning your device will automatically restart if there isn’t enough sunlight.

There are three versions of the Nomad, the lighter Nomad 7 (7 Watts), the compact and efficient Nomad 10, and this 14 Watt version. 

In 2021 Goal Zero redesigned the NOMAD 14 PLUS to make it lighter and smarter. It has a kickstand that keeps the panel at the correct angle and a power flow indicator to make sure it’s charging correctly.

Using power flow history, the auto-restart feature knows the difference between a connected device that’s fully charged and one that’s disconnected due to a lack of sunlight.

NOMAD 14 PLUS reconnects and begins charging once the sun comes out if it’s unplugged before it’s fully charged. Ideal for phones, GPS, headlamps, or FLIP 20/30

Depending on what you want, you can pick the solar charger only, Venture 30 or Venture 70 batteries, or even Guide 10 batteries if you just want to charge AAs.

See the current price of Nomad 14 Plus Solar Panel here.

DIY Solar eBike Charger

We’ve had solar energy for years, but what’s a DIY solar eBike charger?

Have you ever seen a house with solar panels on the roof? Sadly, you can’t load up your eBike with solar panels for unlimited rides.

I’ve got something even better.

Manufacturers in the solar-energy industry have created portable solar panels that can be used to charge electric bikes.

What does it cost?

Very little.

Can you charge an e-Bike with a solar panel?

Short answer, you can charge an e-Bike with a solar panel. 

But you’ll have to keep the charging speed in mind. Chargers for 48V eBike batteries will need at least two solar panels capable of putting out at least 200W of power if you want to charge your eBike in a day.

Solar panels with a 200-watt rating produce 200 watts of power.

However, this is the nominal power it can produce under Standard Test Conditions, also called STC. In the real world, getting 100 percent power from a solar panel is rare.

Depending on where you live and the weather, you’ll get different amounts of energy.

Sun intensity differs between sunny and snowy places. We call this irradiance.

Thus, expect a higher wattage in the summer and a lower wattage in the winter.

Solar panels are supposed to generate energy based on their wattage multiplied by peak sun hours.

In other words:

Wattage of Solar Panel x Peak Sun Hours = Energy Generated.

In the US, there are four sun hours a day. As a result, you can generate about 400 watts of electricity with a 100 watt solar panel every day.

Additionally, if you live in states like Arizona, Wyoming, or Nevada, you could get up to 600 watts of solar energy every day.

Dust, weather, and other variables can reduce your output by 30 percent.

Why go for DIY e-Bike solar charging instead of using a nearby charging station?

Besides saving you from dragging your bike to the charging station half a mile away, a DIY solar charger will keep you going even if you run out of juice in the middle of nowhere.

Make sure you are out in the sun, plug in that charger, recline on a folding chair, and sip a martini with an umbrella.

Off Grid eBike Charging

Basically, off-grid eBike charging is charging your electric bike somewhere that doesn’t have any charging stations or power sockets – in the wild.

Here’s where solar panels, power banks, and generators come in. These nifty gadgets could save you from getting stranded in the middle of nowhere.

How do I charge my ebike off grid battery?

Because power banks aren’t always big enough to charge your ebike, and petrol generators are too heavy to lug around on the trails, solar charging is your best option.

I’ve tried a lot of solar charging methods before. Some of them feel a bit like high school science projects. 

Yet I’ve found the Jackery Explorer 1000 solar generator to be the easiest method so far.

There’s a lot of power in this monster solar generator with a hefty 1,002 Wh internal battery that can be charged with Jackery’s SolarSaga solar panels . It can also be charged by plugging it into a wall or plugging into a car outlet, but I was really intrigued by the solar charging.

You can plug pretty much any device into it after the battery is charged by the solar panels (or during the charge). In our case, we’re gonna plug in an e-bike charger.

Portable Solar Charger for Electric Bike

Portable solar chargers are nifty little gadgets that allow you to charge your ebike using the power of the sun – even away from civilization. 

To figure out how portable solar ebike chargers work, we have to look at how the main component – the solar panel – works.

Basically, solar panels work by knocking electrons free from atoms when particles of sunlight hit them, or photons. 

A solar panel captures this flow of electrons, making it into electricity. Photovoltaic cells create this electricity, and their components turn it into power.

The portable solar charger then accommodates this energy and either stores or feeds it into your electric bike’s batteries.

I’ve found about 5 ideal manufacturers who make them so far – Bosch, QuietKat, Bakcou, Electric Bike Co, and Jackery.

With a solar electric bike charger, you can stop anywhere from the highway to the outback trails and still be able to charge your bike as long as it’s daylight.

Solar e-Bike Charging Station

Besides being convenient, you don’t need a lot of parts to set up a DIY solar e-bike charger.

To give you an idea how to set up a DIY solar e-Bike charging station, here’s an example:

The Jackery Explorer 1000 has multiple power outlets, plus three 110V AC outlets, so you can use solar power for anything you want. The 110V AC outlets and USB ports aren’t just for your e-bike. You can hook up other appliances or devices too.

The fact that I can power my phone with solar energy I harvest from the sun makes me happy. I sometimes charge my phone with the unit just for fun.

You need to make sure your Jackery unit is at least partially charged before you can charge an e-bike. Sort of like an energy reserve. With the Jackery, you fill it up with solar power and store it until it’s time to charge your e-bike. 

With both the Jackery Explorer 1000 and the solar panels, all you need to do is point the panels at the sun.

It’s also possible to leave the main unit inside and run the wires out a window if you want a more permanent setup. Anyone who lives in an apartment with a sun-facing window might find this useful.

Each Jackery solar panel is 100 watts, but Jackery also makes 60 watt panels for smaller units they sell. For more power, you can connect two panels together.

There’s a parallel connector in Jackery just for this kind of thing. As long as we charge the Jackery slowly throughout the day, a single panel will be fine for our purposes, but two panels will do twice the work.

In bad conditions (morning light, partially cloudy, etc.), I can get 110W of power. In good conditions, I get over 150W.

Typical e-bike batteries are 500-700 Wh. Jackery Explorer 1000 has 1,000 Wh, so can charge about twice. In most cases, people ride back with a partially charged battery rather than a completely empty one, so 3-4 partial charges are more likely.

The thing I like about this system over direct solar charging is that the solar energy is always there when you need it. My e-bikes are usually charged at night after I use them during the day. In direct solar charging, where I plug my bike right into a panel, I wouldn’t be able to charge after the sun goes down. But the Jackery setup lets me solar charge even after dark.

Charging e Bike Battery With Inverter

Your electric bike battery can be charged with energy from your car battery using an inverter. Just make sure you don’t have a flat car battery as that’ll be way more trouble than a dead e-bike. You can use an alternator tester to shut off the charger when the battery gets low. You can also use an energy monitor to see how much power goes to the bike.

When charging from a car 12V source or solar panel 110V AC inverter, understand where the bottleneck is, which could be the source or the inverter:

In practice, this makes more sense. For instance:

Can we charge a 36V 13Ah battery with a 2A charger from a 12V 10A car power plug with a 200W inverter?

Battery capacity: 36×13= 468Wh

Charger power: 42V x 2A = 84W

Power source: 12V x 10A= 120W

Inverter power: 200W

Yes, you can, because the charger only uses 84W, which is less than 75% of the bottleneck power of the car plug, which is 120W.

If you’re charging with solar, you’ll need a buffer battery or production rate that’s 25% above what the charger needs. Solar panels aren’t very efficient, so they take forever to charge even the simplest devices. With a boost module, you can get your solar panel’s output voltage to the voltage and amperage your batteries need to be charged.

Considering solar charging your ebike? No need to scour the web for electric bike solar charger options because we compiled them all for you.

People Also Ask

Can you charge an electric bike with a solar panel.

Yes, you can charge an electric bike with a solar panel. Solar panels offer a convenient and sustainable way to power your electric bike. By installing solar panels on your property, you can use the sun’s energy to charge your e-bike batteries effectively and efficiently.

How long does it take to charge an electric bike with a solar panel?

A solar panel can charge an electric bike in a few hours depending on the capacity of the battery and the strength of the solar panels.

How do I charge my bike battery with a solar panel?

Charge your bike battery with a solar panel by connecting the positive and negative terminals of the battery to the positive and negative leads of your solar panel, respectively. 

Make sure that both panels are connected properly before switching on the power supply. Finally, turn on the charging switch for your bike battery to start charging it using solar energy.

How do you charge an eBike battery when camping?

Charge an eBike battery when camping by connecting the charger to a solar panel, plugging it into a generator or hooking up to an RV’s electrical system.

Which Solar Charger Should You Buy?

Too many to choose from? These are three of our recommendations for the best solar chargers for electric bikes:

Personally, I recommend the Jackery Solar Saga charger because you can pair it with the Jackery solar generator for the most efficient and fastest solar charging.

While it’s not cheap, the capabilities it provides are awesome, so I think it’s totally worth it. My kinda charging is fast, reliable, and totally off-grid.

Now that you’ve seen your 10 best options for electric bike solar chargers, why not learn how to charge an electric bike on the road ?

Nick Ylac Gutladera — Lead Writer

Nick got his start by stealing his father’s dirt bike and riding it around the neighbourhood at the tender age of 11. These day’s he’s got a full license, so the cops mostly leave him alone. On weekends, he races pit bikes, enduro bikes, and anything else with a motor. Nick’s been a journalist and professional writer since 2017.

Linkedin Read Nick Gutladera’s Full Bio

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Maine to extend solar power to low-income communities, helped by $62 million from Washington

Maine's programs are intended to bring solar power to renters and homeowners, rural and urban households and others that may not be well-suited for on-site solar.

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Maine will receive $62 million in federal funding to help extend solar power access to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Maine is looking to bring solar power to more homeowners and renters in all parts of the state. The funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would reduce financial barriers to rooftop solar panels by providing incentives for residential solar and energy storage, according to the proposal submitted to the EPA in October 2023 by the Governor’s Energy Office.

While the framework of the program has not been made final, the state wrote in its proposal that the incentives would affect low-income people or families in homes or multi-unit buildings.

The EPA funding also would be used for technical and financial help to support cooperatively owned community solar so households, tribal communities and community-based organizations can participate in solar energy ownership without having to be homeowners, the Governor’s Energy Office said.

And a new community solar and energy storage program would focus specifically on serving low-income and disadvantaged households. It would lower electricity bills and build energy resilience by using competitive bidding and leveraging energy assistance programs to cut costs and make more benefits available.

Funded by the Federal Inflation Reduction Act, the EPA’s $7 billion Solar for All competition in 2023 is meant to spur deployment of residential and community solar for millions of Americans. Maine was one of 60 projects awarded funding, which the EPA estimates will help deliver solar energy for 900,000 homes across the country. Advertisement

Maine applied for $99.5 million, the maximum for which it was eligible. The Maine proposal initially estimated 38,000 low-income and disadvantaged households would have access to solar with rooftop projects and community solar. It will also provide solar energy job opportunities and support modernization of the electric grid.

It’s not clear how many households would benefit given the EPA funding is less than what was requested, said a spokesperson for the Governor’s Energy Office. State officials will learn more about the terms of the award, which may influence the program design and number of households that can participate.

Beginning later this year, the public will be asked to weigh in on details of the program.

In Maine, 977 megawatts of solar energy are installed, up from 62 MW in 2019. Most solar arrays in Maine are small-scale, or less than 5 MW.

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Mayor Duggan touts NFL draft, public safety boost, junk removal plan at State of the City

Mayor Mike Duggan did not shy away from touting the NFL draft yet again as he kicked off his 11th annual State of the City on Wednesday evening at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on Detroit's northwest side.

Duggan anticipates similar crowds to past NFL drafts, which drew in roughly 300,000 visitors. The mayor encourages them to visit redeveloped sites shown across the nation during Detroit's bankruptcy 10 years ago, such as the Michigan Central Depot, from which he delivered his State of the City last year, and witness how much the city has changed.

"We have a chance to introduce ourselves to America," Duggan said. "The last time we were in the national spotlight on MSNBC, it was about bankruptcy and a lot of people ... when they get here, you're going to see a very different city."

The mayor dived into a long list of recreational and major developments, including: GM Factory Zero and Stellantis assembly plants; State Fairgrounds development into a transit and Amazon fulfillment center; the $3 billion Henry Ford "Future of Health" development; Hudson's site, which GM recently announced plans to move its headquarters into the city's newest skyscraper, and the Water Square residences and hotel at the former Joe Louis Arena site.

Duggan added that when he first ran for office in 2013 and met with hundreds of residents, "it hurt" to realize much of them felt the city and country forgot about Detroit.

They said "our neighborhood has been forgotten ... there's illegal dumping, nobody's picked it up. There's open abandoned houses, nobody cares. You dial 911, the police don’t show up. The ambulance doesn’t show up," Duggan said. "What they were really saying is our city has been forgotten."

Duggan praised a number of the city's accomplishments, including eliminating blight, plans to remove abandoned vehicles, demolishing and restoring abandoned homes and boosting several of the city's parks, recreation centers and public spaces in an effort to beautify Detroit.

Here are a some key takeaways:

No more 'ruin porn'

More than 10 years ago, visitors would take "ruin porn" tours in Detroit to capture some of the city's blight, including the iconic Michigan Central Depot, which was initially up for demolition in 2009.

But this year, Duggan declared those tours "canceled."

Several sites are developing, including Lear's seating plant replacing the 40-year abandoned Hudson's Motor plant; the updated and lavish Book Tower housing residences and restaurants; United Artists Theatre building converting into apartments; the Eddystone renovated into apartments; GM parts facility replacing the long abandoned AMC Headquarters; the Fisher Body Plant being restored into apartments, and one of the biggest eyesores, the Packard Plant, which is coming down this year.

Instead of blight tours, Duggan pointed to the city's upgraded amenities, including the RiverWalk, Riverside Park, Beacon Park and more.

Land Value Tax

Prior to diving into the mayor's proposed Land Value Tax plan , which would raise property taxes on vacant land, Duggan touted the city's credit rating upgrade to reaching investment grade. Higher ratings mean governments pay lower costs to borrow money for investments across the city.

As he pushes the property tax plan through the Michigan Legislature, Duggan, once again, reminded Detroiters that it would cut homeowners' property taxes by 17% and raise the tax on vacant land, including parking lots and scrapyards. However, not everybody is on board with the plan.

"I have this fight in Lansing for the Land Value Tax ... which every national economist said would be a great thing in Detroit."

Duggan was referencing a poll of economists who agreed that it would boost Detroit's economy.

Public safety improvement

Detroit, once known nationally as the "carjack city," Duggan said, saw 782 carjackings in 2013, leading Detroit officers to leave the city in "record numbers." In 2024, Detroit has been averaging two per week, he said. Duggan pointed out that former Detroit Police Chief James Craig in 2013 was a victim of carjacking. The city in the meantime provided pay increases as an incentive to stay. Detroit's homicide rate dropped from 386 in 2013 to 252 in 2023.

The city also started Project Green Light , which uses cameras installed at various businesses, aimed at deterring crime and providing video evidence when it happens near a Green Light site.

"Ten years later, Detroit is a national leader in reducing carjackings," Duggan said.

Detroit also launched a number of community violence intervention initiatives, including gunshot detection systems to prevent gun crime. Six activist groups received federal grants to research ways to prevent crime and curb gun violence. Duggan plans to request that City Council extends their contracts through 2025 after seeing gun violence dip by 44% in areas where four of the groups focused on personal interaction to deescalate situations.

Duggan also touted the city's 911 response time reaching an average of 7 minutes and 30 seconds, which is less than the national standard. The city is dispatching 42 ambulances a day, compared with 20-22 last year.

Solar energy

Duggan touted multiple solar efforts underway, including 127 municipal buildings converting from fossil-based to solar energy. The city also launched an initiative to convert 250 acres of land into solar farms . The intention would be to convert blight into a more productive use. The city would select eight neighborhoods, two of which will power streetlights.

Homeowners living within the area will receive $15,000 in energy-efficiency home upgrades. Duggan will send the first three winning neighborhoods to City Council next month for approval.

Eliminating junk vehicles

In an effort to remove abandoned vehicles, 20 of the city's municipal parking officers are ticketing inoperable or unlicensed vehicles on the street. The citation will give owners 48 hours to move the vehicle.

"2024 is the year we finally rid Detroit of the abandoned illegal vehicles," Duggan said, adding that a resident complained to him about junk vehicles in her neighborhood, suggesting it's not a common sight in the suburbs.

Owners of multiple vehicles on private property lawns will have two weeks to move them, including commercial vehicles. Owners cannot store them on lawns, even if they build a fence around it, Duggan added.

"You can't store your commercial vehicles in our neighborhoods," Duggan said.

The city ticketed 5,208 vehicles so far this year. It towed 769, he said, and 85% were moved by the owners. Residents can report abandoned vehicles on the "Improve Detroit' app.

Rising home values

Detroit home values grew by $3.9 billion since the city's bankruptcy. Black homeowners' housing wealth grew by $2.8 billion, according to a study conducted by the University of Michigan.

"That's for the people who stay. The whole city in nine years grew," Duggan said, adding in response to those who say downtown and Midtown are the only areas seeing growth, "you tell them the University of Michigan study has 4 billion reasons why that's not true."

The study indicated that since the bankruptcy, demolitions of blighted and abandoned properties, and sales by the Detroit Land Bank Authority led to a "transformation" of the city's housing stock, leading to the market recovery as home sales prices increased.

Dexter Elmhurst Recreation Center

The city is renovating the center on the west side with plans to create a recreation center. In a surprise to a longtime community activist Helen Moore , Duggan plans to name it after her.

"Tomorrow morning, Councilman Fred Durhal is putting forward the resolution, and next year, the brand new facility will be the Helen Moore Community Center," Duggan said. "There is one person who has been the champion. For the last 25 years of my life, my No. 1 critic has been Helen Moore. Every time, she brings me something, she's right."

Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: [email protected]. Follow her:  @DanaAfana .