Electric Bikes - Solar powered electric bicycle question?

Is there any solar powered bicycle out yet on the market? Can solar powered bicycles today or in the future travel the distance between 50 to 200 miles or more on a single charge in one sunny day? This is my first time buying a solar powered electric bicycle.

Thanks,

Not going to happen. Numerous problems. Just plain battery powered bikes have limited speed and range. The cost is very high too. There is tons of stuff on line try a search.
try 12 miles for a range. Charging current, battery technology, cost, not now, no way.

In high school our tech class competed in a solar bike race. Our bike had a little motor on the back wheel, and it was more of a power assist type of system. You still had to pedal, but it was useful for going up hills. We actually won the Colorado Solar Bike Rayce sponsored by the National Renewable Engergies Lab near Boulder. The race was 100 kilometers and we took a one hour break for lunch to recharge ourselves and the bike. None of the team members were actually into riding bikes at the time, so the win was pretty good for our little group of nerds If you google "Solar Bike Race" it will give you some web pages with examples of solar bikes. If I had my yearbook with me I would have scanned the picture of our bike for you.

Is it really a bicycle if it has a motor?

Is it really a bicycle if it has a motor?
If You just get lucky enough to live a few more years, You may just come to the conclusion that a little bit of help ain't nothing to ***** about.
I suspect You have a vision of Yourself at 70, 185 lbs. of
Blue, Twisted Steel, just a couple of gray hairs! Guess What, Tadpole, You just may not ever see Your dream!
Do You even have a clue of just how Damned obtuse You sound?

New photo-voltaic cells are under development that are expected to have an efficiency of between 50 and almost 70%.
Let's assume half of the sunlight's energy reaches through the atmosphere.
From a 1350 W/m^2 in space, we'll make that 600 W/m^2 down here in our soup of air.
Let's further assume a net 60% efficiency in all subsequent systems (conductors, converters, electric motors). That leaves us with 360 W/m^2.
If we assume an average sunlight-to-solar cell angle of 45 degrees, we lose 30% of the 360, and we're down to 250 W/m^2.

Now it's just a matter of deciding how much power you want, and how big a system you can afford.
The average touring biker probably puts out 100-200 W, so just 1 m^2 should be good enough.

If you want to do the same with what's available today, multiply the area needed by three, to simulate today's cell efficiency levels of around 20%.

Edit:
I should point out that my calculations are for a bike without any batteries. I.e., you just run off of the solar power without any battery to store it.
Batteries add plenty of mass and bulk, increasing rolling resistance and air resistance.

Id love to have a solar powered 4 wheel bike. I guess it would be more of a car having 4 wheels but you could still pedal when you wanted.

How about a solar powered unicycle? C’mon, cycles are fun just the way they are.

Is it really a bicycle if it has a motor?

Nope

Is it really a bicycle if it has a motor?
Nope

So a motor bicycle (motorbike) is not a bicycle (bike) then?

Is it really a bicycle if it has a motor?

Nope

What do you call a motorized vehicle that you peddle?

Can you call a motorized bicycle a bicycle if the motor doesn't work?

What if the motor works but you don't use it. Then is it a bicycle?

What if you are carrying a motor home in your panier. Then is it a bicycle?

What do you call a motorized vehicle that you peddle?

A moped

What do you call a motorized vehicle that you peddle?

Can you call a motorized bicycle a bicycle if the motor doesn't work?

What if the motor works but you don't use it. Then is it a bicycle?

What if you are carrying a motor home in your panier. Then is it a bicycle?





So a motor bicycle (motorbike) is not a bicycle (bike) then?

Pah leeeese. :rolleyes: I have never heard anybody with a reasonable expectation of being understood refer to a motorcycle as a bicycle. I'm not trying to play games of semantics here. There are a lot of words in the english language have evolved in the last 100 years to accommodate new technology. Get with the times :D

The word "bike" however, can go either way of course. I can recall a few individuals in the recent past that mistakenly posted on bikeforums.net bragging about how fast their new "bike" was, including detailed information on engine displacement, and 0-60 speeds, only to be politely informed that this forum is actually dedicated to the pedal variety.

IMHO, BFDN is for those enthusiasts of human powered two wheeled (or one wheeled) transportation, but I am not in charge, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. On these forums there is probably room for discussion on the motor assisted variety of bike, which is what this thread is about. There is a place in the world for motorized two wheeled transport, sure. Maybe they are the answer to our energy crisis? Maybe they will give the disabled the freedom and mobility they deserve similar to these (http://www.thescooterstore.com/ProductSpec/Scooters/sonic.asp). But I do believe you cross out of the bicycle realm and into the motorized vehicle realm. Above I had succinctly stated my opinion that a motorized bike does not fall into the same category is a pedal operated bicycle :o .

If You just get lucky enough to live a few more years, You may just come to the conclusion that a little bit of help ain't nothing to ***** about.
I suspect You have a vision of Yourself at 70, 185 lbs. of
Blue, Twisted Steel, just a couple of gray hairs! Guess What, Tadpole, You just may not ever see Your dream!
Do You even have a clue of just how Damned obtuse You sound?

Way to avoid the question, (old) guy. I wasn't asking for a lecture on how I'm going to be riding a bike when I'm retired, I was asking exactly how a two-wheeled motor vehicle qualifies as a bicycle.

I don't live in a place where it is sunny every day. For something to be made available it has to be something that will sell well to the public. After all it is about money. If they only make a few the cost would be insanely high.

For something to work in many climates it will need batteries. There are so many electric battery powered bicycles on line to look at it is staggering. None of them have the range you mention or go very fast, and they are expensive. When they run out of juice (you will) they are very heavy to pedal home. Charging them up with the huge benefit of being able to plug them in, as opposed to using solar cells takes a long time. You can't recover much of a charge in a short time. Try Goggling them. They don't sell well because of these problems. I can go much farther and faster on my pedal bike than a medium priced electric bike. Ten times as far. Just a little faster. The present technology and the laws of physics prevent anything else from happening right now.

You'll spend a lot of money for a very compromised solution. If you want to avoid pedaling, take the bus.

But what if you had a bike with a fairing that first of all reduced your air resistance, and if it was covered with solar cells, providing you with (even in places with clouds and low sun) enough power to take away some of the effort?
Let's say you get enough to halve your power input requirement.
You could either go slightly faster, or you could cruise at a very low speed without pedalling at all. Or anything in between...

No need for batteries!

You'll spend a lot of money for a very compromised solution. If you want to avoid pedaling, take the bus.

:beer: exactly.

But what if you had a bike with a fairing that first of all reduced your air resistance, and if it was covered with solar cells, providing you with (even in places with clouds and low sun) enough power to take away some of the effort?
Let's say you get enough to halve your power input requirement.
You could either go slightly faster, or you could cruise at a very low speed without pedalling at all. Or anything in between...

No need for batteries!

Nope !! In the shade and up hill you have to drag the extra weight along it's not efficient at all. It's actually inefficient.By adding all this stuff to a bicycle you are reducing the efficency of the overall vehicle. Making it worse.

It's been done. Find the solar electric vehicle race on line. This is nothing new. I'm not saying it's impossible to make something do this a little bit. But, it has been done over, and over again. Unless you are rich and don't want something practical forget it. There are plenty of vehicles like you describe without the solar cells, you just pedal them. If you build a really efficient vehicle then you might as well pedal. Figure out how many solar cells you need to make 350 watts. That will be ok on the flat, but will not get you up a hill.

Don't forget these fully faired bikes and trikes, of which there are many, are heavy.

The most efficient thing in the world would be to have the cargo load power the vehicle right? Then there is no other power needed..................... ?

That would be a bicycle. The most efficient vehicle known to man. :)

2manybikes, you probably didn't read my post properly.
It's certainly true that a faired bike is more efficient than an unfaired one.
So, when you do have all that fairing, there's no harm in adding solar cells to the surface. The extra weight is negligible.
Then you need a small power converter and a small electric motor.
I would think the extra weight of the whole setup would be less than 4 lbs.
And you can certainly generate enough to help you along well on flats, and take a bit of the strain away when climbing.
The extra rolling resistance from the weight is made up for dozens of times over in the extra power contribution.
You're guaranteed to spend less energy in total using such a system.
If you can't see it, that's not my problem.
It wouldn't cost much, and it wouldn't be hard to build.

It would actually make for a great tourer. Not only could you have some power to reduce your effort a bit on a long leg, you would also have power to charge batteries for radios, mobile phones, digital cameras and flashlights.

2manybikes, you probably didn't read my post properly.
It's certainly true that a faired bike is more efficient than an unfaired one.
So, when you do have all that fairing, there's no harm in adding solar cells to the surface. The extra weight is negligible.
Then you need a small power converter and a small electric motor.
I would think the extra weight of the whole setup would be less than 4 lbs.
And you can certainly generate enough to help you along well on flats, and take a bit of the strain away when climbing.
The extra rolling resistance from the weight is made up for dozens of times over in the extra power contribution.
You're guaranteed to spend less energy in total using such a system.
If you can't see it, that's not my problem.
It wouldn't cost much, and it wouldn't be hard to build.

It would actually make for a great tourer. Not only could you have some power to reduce your effort a bit on a long leg, you would also have power to charge batteries for radios, mobile phones, digital cameras
and flashlights.

Yes it will work fine on a flat surface with no wind and no hills in the sun. I don't dispute that for a second. I have seen it happen.

And yes you can build something too, Is the price even a consideration?

The only thing I am saying is they will not get to market, you were asking about buying something. No one will sell them unless they will work in a wide variety of circumstances. The fully faired bikes and trikes don't sell well either. That's not to say they don't work, they do. But they are very expensive for example.

I don't think the rolling resistance from the added weight is a problem either. It's lifting it up a hill. That needs a lot more power. In a long or steep hill a small weight makes a difference.
When there is not enough sun is not the whole mechanism added weight? I think my 350 watt bicycle motor is a lot more than 4 lbs. but I may be off a little. You need a drive mechanism too not just a motor.
I'm guessing the motor I have is about 10 lb or so. On any kind of a slight hill the strain on the motor is too much, the current drain is too high and it trips a circuit breaker to prevent damage. You need a transmisson to keep the motor in the right gear range for hills. Maybe attached to the pedlals in a way that takes advantage of the existing gears on the bike, just like the pedals do. A chain drive with some kind of a clutch so it can be disconnected when not in use. That would add to the weight of my simple tire drive motor. Did you calculate all the energy losses in all the bearings in the drive system? Did you work out a clutch of some kind?

There's a lot more too. I would love to be wrong and have you build one. That would be great. But the more I know about it and the closer I get, it is impractical to make one for sale as a bussiness so that you could buy one that does what you asked for in your original post. The faired trikes are around $5,000 and up.

Google (solar car race) there is so much to read it takes too long, there are details about the last EIGHT YEARS of competition and all the teams and etc. People have been working on this for longer than eight years. lots of specialists in their fields all working together. Some smart people have been working on this for a long time.

Who's talking about selling?
I never saw this as anything but a homebuild.

Yes, if your read my first post, you'll see that I added losses, probably a lot more than there would be in a good system.

To be honest, I only calculated how much power you could get from solar cells to drive a bike forward.
And 350 W is far more than a regular biker will be able to put out for more than a minute or so.
I was thinking of adding 100 W or so, to take the strain off. And that wouldn't go away if you're going uphill.

There's no reason why a faired bike would cost as much as you say, but that's another issue entirely.

Who's talking about selling?
I never saw this as anything but a homebuild.

Yes, if your read my first post, you'll see that I added losses, probably a lot more than there would be in a good system.

To be honest, I only calculated how much power you could get from solar cells to drive a bike forward.
And 350 W is far more than a regular biker will be able to put out for more than a minute or so.
I was thinking of adding 100 W or so, to take the strain off. And that wouldn't go away if you're going uphill.

There's no reason why a faired bike would cost as much as you say, but that's another issue entirely.

Oops. sorry. I meant the original question in the thread was about buying something. Big difference between building and buying yes. The finished faired trikes that are for sale are more than that. but I was getting confused, thinking about the business of selling a finished product to the public and having a successful business. The original question in the thread also was implying "on a single charge" so I was thinking along the lines at first of a battery powered bike with a solar charger. We were not really on the same page.

My main problem with a solar assist no battery bike is that when the sun is not out does it have enough light to produce enough power to carry it's own weight? I don't know the answer to that question. If it does not, Then after the first few cloudy days a user is not going to be a happy camper. I can see in a sunny climate where it is flat, and there are plenty of those, it would be good as a home made add on. I live in New England, so if there was a store selling them here they would lose lots of money. Maybe not true in Florida near the golf course, retirement communities. I think they sell a fair amount of battery powered bikes in a place like that. Or in LA.

I agree on the wattage but the bike rider with 100 watts or 200 watts has to use a transmission effectively to climb any incline at all. I was trying to illustrate that even though the motor is 350 watts which will push a heavy, heavy old trike at 16 mph on a flat surface, without a variable gear ratio it is useless even on a slight hill without gearing changes. Or if it is geared low then It is useless to go 16 mph on a flat surface. That is a problem that has to be solved and it adds weight cost and complexity.
I don't have an answer to that. I don't mean it can't be done, but how would do it that keeps the weight down, and the cost low? I'm trying to envision a competed project that solves all the problems.
If you have a good answer I wish I had it last year when I was researching the drive train for my electric trike. No one has solved this so far that I know of. My feeble legs using the gears on my bikes will go up hills that that motor with one gear could not even move on.

Hey! You nay sayers forgot about the Wright Bros? Never fly !
Weren't the Brothers bike mechanics ? OK heres something I saw in Wired Magazine called the Ambient Light Vee; a three wheeled solar powered vehicle. http://www.bookofjoe.com/2005/01/httpwwwwiredcom.html
The plans to build this are free. Max Speed 21mph, range 170 miles. The inventors/mechaincs, Jeff Dekzty an Will Scully said" We had to stop for an hour to recharge, so we had a sandwich"

a positive imagination,
MTB

This stuff has been around for many years,there's tons of these. They all are at the same level of develoment. Ten years that I know about and before that.

It would be cool to have a system with extremely low internal losses, to absorb energy through braking, and then use that to get back up to speed once you start moving again.
A few buses do this.

Weight is an obvious problem, but it would still be cool!

It would be cool to have a system with extremely low internal losses, to absorb energy through braking, and then use that to get back up to speed once you start moving again.
A few buses do this.

Weight is an obvious problem, but it would still be cool!

The modern hybrid cars do this (a little), but the energy of course came from gasoline to start with. But 65-70 mpg is a good application, these cars do get good mileage. I'm not yet convinced that the energy to build the batteries for these cars and the total cost of the batteries is an overall cost savings or an ecological benefit. I'm still open to either possiblity, but I'm not convinced yet.

You are probably talking about the flywheel busses that go up and down a mountain? Pretty clever. I have a friend who went on one and had the driver show him the workings and gave him a lot of details.I believe it was in Germany?
The only problem with that system is you need to go up and down the same amount like the busses do, on the same route all the time. If you get where you lose elevation and lose flyweel speed then you just have a heavy bus! I think they park the buses at the top every night too. I bet there are a few other repeate routes where that would work well. Like a city with a route that was the same all the time. I imagine no one will build them because of the start up cost and initial investment. That kills a lot of good things. I live near a city where a route would be perfect for that.

Solar power is most effective with stationary systems.


Actually many cruising sailboats use solar systems for their "house" needs. It is quite nice to have no dependence on oil.

But then again, these are not bicycles. :D

I'm tinkering with solar power, not direct, but with batteries charged by photovoltaic panels. My Bionx equipped Rockhopper will get about 6 - 8 miles on level ground with one 10 cell A123 pack and modest pedalling (I'm a 72 year old asthmatic). More packs, greater distance. A pack weighs 1.7 lbs or 0.8 kg, and can be made for an outlay of about $100, and a modest amount of time. One pack can be charged in less than 30 minutes with 3 60 W panels; in 1 hour with 2 panels. Other details below.

Here's an overview:

http://cs2.simplehost.com/~lblakely/evs/solrh/a123intro.htm

anemone (mace on the Tidal Force forum)

I saw an article with someone pulling a trailer that had a small array on top of it. It still had to be peadled but provided enough boost to make the ride more enjoyable.

I have never measured one; however, I think something like a rhodes ar would have enough roof to support a smal assist motor (I do not know if it would be enough assist to mak up for the extra work that the rhodes car would add). It seems that a trike with a overhead canopy would have th ebest possibility of making it work. Of course, you will still need batteries.

I think "bicycle" is a huge term. bi (two) and cycle (to turn, or wheel) should refer to any 2 wheeled object that can be used for transportation. my uncle refers to his harley as his "bike". heck even my dad refers to his stable of quads as "bikes" which, by definition, they are not. but since he used to ride dirt bikes all the time, which i think could be called bikes or bicycles, and he uses quads in the exact same way, that's where he gets that (though it irks me). so i think electric bikes, and motor bikes are all bikes, and the long name for bike is bicycle so have at it.

and i think any assisted bike is kinda cheating, but i am getting older and do see the usefullness in a little assistance up a hill, and hey if you want to ride a solar powered bike instead of a gas car, you're cool in my book. i'd rather be on the road with 100 electric or even gas bikes than 100 SUV's with cell phones and DVDs going.

I know the thread is 2 years old but there are so many "eBike myths" on the first page that I just have to point to the FAQ to clear things up: BIKEFORUM'S eBike ongoing FAQ (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=297376)

I'm tinkering with solar power, not direct, but with batteries charged by photovoltaic panels. My Bionx equipped Rockhopper will get about 6 - 8 miles on level ground with one 10 cell A123 pack and modest pedalling (I'm a 72 year old asthmatic). More packs, greater distance. A pack weighs 1.7 lbs or 0.8 kg, and can be made for an outlay of about $100, and a modest amount of time. One pack can be charged in less than 30 minutes with 3 60 W panels; in 1 hour with 2 panels. Other details below.

Here's an overview:

http://cs2.simplehost.com/~lblakely/evs/solrh/a123intro.htm

anemone (mace on the Tidal Force forum)

If you stuck a 9"x18" panel on the rear rack, how much additional power would you get? If you could get even 20W, that could be a usable amount of assistance. And would you be able to feed it directly to the motor or controller instead of the battery?

If you stuck a 9"x18" panel on the rear rack, how much additional power would you get? If you could get even 20W, that could be a usable amount of assistance. And would you be able to feed it directly to the motor or controller instead of the battery?A 9 by 18 inch area is about one tenth of a square meter. An often-quoted average for solar energe is 1000 watts per square meter. So assuming an optimistic 15% efficiency, you're looking at 15 watts of power. But of course, there's all sorts of things that would bring that down (angle with the sun, underpasses, trees, birds, etc.)

The trailer with a PV panel on it intrigues me.. One of my nominal 60 watt panels is about 44" x 19" and weighs about 20 pounds. (It provides a max of about 4 A at about 12V). A sturdy lightweight frame housing a 4S10P (that is, 10 packs of 4 series connected cells wired in parallel) battery of A123 (26650) cells, would weigh about 20 lbs and provide about 275 Wh (~12 V x 23 Ah) when fully charged. Either the bike or the trailer could have the motorized wheel. It would take 6 or 7 hours to charge a nearly exhausted battery. On level 30 minute rides with the bike described earlier, I use about 100 W average from the battery, plus my pedalling.. In my case I need to climb a long hill getting home, and would need something like 1000 W for 5 - 10 minutes. Might work. But, it would seem to be much easier just to use a somewhat bigger battery charged at home - i.e., definitely use PV panels, but leave them at home

anemone

Solar power is cool, but when I would want the assistance most, it's dark and/or rainy. I am skeptical that a reasonable setup could be used to power even a bike. I know a couple people with photovoltaic arrays on their houses. It works in the sense that they can sometimes meet their needs and sell electricity back to the grid. Solar powered cars have existed for decades. They cost a fortune and are slow enough that you're better of pedaling.

Unless you are on top of a mountain in AZ, don't expect to get anywhere near the full capacity of the solar cells. Even slight amounts of dust, a passing cloud, or a shadow make the bottom drop out of your power. As time goes on, they generate less.

The best way to electrify a bike is with a battery. If solar is desired, it's going to be more efficient to use large ideally suited facilities to add electricity to the grid than it is for everyone to have their own solar cells. Photovoltaic cells might not generate greenhouse gases when you're using them, but the process used to make them uses plenty of power and chemicals.

I would use solar energy just to recharge the batteries. Get two sets of batteries. While you're out riding with one set, your solar charger is charging up the other set.

Since my ebike can eaisly go 100 miles ANYWHERE on a round trip WITHOUT having to pedal at all by using a 40 lb lipo pack there is no reason to carry the panels with me.I did carry my home pannels with me once on a boat trip to the island of Lanai and back to Maui in 4.5 hours on just solar pannels alone but the boat would have been much lighter just carrying batteries.Same as on a ebike.It is best to leave your pannels on your roof at home to charge your home system that will charge your vehicle batteries at any time.

http://mauisfreepress.com/archives/archives2003/features/sept_oct/9_17_03_3.html
http://www.ecotopia.com/st/solarcraft/

It would be more efficient to have a solar-powered battery charging station at home, which you can use to recharge the batteries on your ebike when it's parked. You could even have a second set of batteries that are charging during the day, while you use the other pack.

I don't think you'll ever have a small enough solar panel that generates enough power to run a motor directly. And, it sure would be annoying to have to dodge shadows all day to keep yourself moving forward!

There are so many electric battery powered bicycles on line to look at it is staggering. None of them have the range you mention or go very fast, and they are expensive.
When I got my power-assist vehicle, I stopped buying monthly public transit passes. The vehicle paid for itself in six months...

tks

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Human-electric hybrid pedestrian

It would be more efficient to have a solar-powered battery charging station at homeActually, far more efficient just to sign up with someone like Bullfrog:

http://www.bullfrogpower.com/

tks

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human-electric hybrid pedestrian

Batteries add plenty of mass and bulk, increasing rolling resistance and air resistance.
Sort of like panniers? So, plenty of mass and bulk, sort of like a bag of groceries, or a back pack?

tks

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human-electric hybrid pedestrian

Id love to have a solar powered 4 wheel bike. I guess it would be more of a car having 4 wheels but you could still pedal when you wanted.
Maybe add pedals to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0JNohHaqM4

Starting to look an awful lot like a bloody automobile...

BTW, if anyone is curious about how capable solar tech is for transport, might just follow along the University teams that compete in the solar car races... You can see how they just paper over their vehicles with solar cells. Ultra-slippery body shapes. Ultra-efficient electric motors that hit %95-98% energy efficient...

tks

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human-electric hybrid pedestrian

Is it really a bicycle if it has a motor?
Yes, just better (safer, cleaner, etc) than pedal-only...

Of course, *real* bicycles don't have pedals. Pedals only got added later. Once the ban in competition for wheels not made of wood was removed, well, it really has been all down hill from then, hasn't it?

tks

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human-electric hybrid pedestrian

How about a solar powered unicycle? C’mon, cycles are fun just the way they are.True! Just not as fun as with power-assist... or as safe.

tks

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human-electric hybrid pedestrian

You'll spend a lot of money for a very compromised solution. If you want to avoid pedaling, take the bus.Or get power-assist and avoid pedaling *and* the buses...

tks

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human-electric hybrid pedestrian

Maybe add pedals to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0JNohHaqM4

Starting to look an awful lot like a bloody automobile...

BTW, if anyone is curious about how capable solar tech is for transport, might just follow along the University teams that compete in the solar car races... You can see how they just paper over their vehicles with solar cells. Ultra-slippery body shapes. Ultra-efficient electric motors that hit %95-98% energy efficient...

tks

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human-electric hybrid pedestrian

Solar racers are definitely impressive.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/en/2004/2004_07_15_fw_000?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

"The Open Division allows teams to use solar cells rated at more than 16 percent efficiency and high-technology hub motors. A hub motor reduces the number of parts required to drive the wheel, greatly increasing the efficiency of the drive train. The Classic Division requires that participants not use hub motors and that they use solar cells rated up to 16 percent efficiency."

Solar racers are definitely impressive.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/en/2004/2004_07_15_fw_000?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

"The Open Division allows teams to use solar cells rated at more than 16 percent efficiency and high-technology hub motors. A hub motor reduces the number of parts required to drive the wheel, greatly increasing the efficiency of the drive train. The Classic Division requires that participants not use hub motors and that they use solar cells rated up to 16 percent efficiency." This boat pannels do power my home ebike and solar boat that will operate the ebike while the boat is being towed by the ebike or if left at home it can charge batteries for a 100 mile range for ebke or boat travel.In 4 hours this boat was solar powered to another island and back at a distance of 20 miles in 4 hours with a 22 ounce brushless 1.4 kw motor 2" in diameter inside the propeller hub of a 10" prop.All I would need is a ebike mount on the boat to take the bike to other islands to have land transportation and power at night to use the microwave to cook fish. lol

see this


http://bikeportland.org/2006/11/10/motorhome-bike-makes-portland-appearance/

You couldn't even do it with a Honda 1000 Watt generator (29 lbs weight). THe closest you could get would be to find an AC charger that could use the full 7.5 AMps the generator puts out and charge the batteries while riding. The Soneil 10 Amp charger is somethig like $300 if I recall correctly, together with the generator you're taking $1,000.00. THen a Bob trailer to put it on of course. THe DC charger on the generator would not work becuase it only puts out 12 V DC, and you cannot easily find a DC converter that will take 12 Volts and convert it to 36 volts and give you the amps your hub motor would require.

Regards, Tom