Originally Posted by
Happy Feet
If I met an E bike tourer on the road I'd be like: "cool, tell me about it". Beats the 100's of faceless nameless polluting truck and trailer/RV's that pass me each day.
100% of the in person reaction to the solar e-bike project has been positive.
Yes, I see the solar e-bike as being close to cycle touring than to other means of touring. That is based on equipment, speed, and, dare I say it, personal effort. I have been doing goofy things like pulling boxes on a trailer, behind my e-bike , to get an estimate of power draw.
No, as 350htrr is quick to point out, it isn't actually on the road yet. However, I do not see building a bike for touring as being off topic for touring.
In another forum a guy has built something similar to my project (it is in the pictures I posted). One thing he has mentioned is that with the solar panels he has been able to reduce his battery to nearly half what they were before. He has some pictures of a 250mi test ride with an overnight at an impromptu campsite.
This allowed him to test the overnight, for touring, and at 250mi on 10Ah he was able to be sure he was running entirely on Solar.
Like I said, my project hold is that I want to be able to involve a few of the students in it. Also, the parts, and the trike, are in the city I teach in, during the summer I am in the city I live in (and they are separated by about 900mi).
I keep hearing "clouds" from my father. I hope the battery (and pedaling, of course) will pull me through those sections. If not, I can camp for a day.