Originally Posted by
seibaatgung
Would it be worth it to equip an ebike with a small portable solar panel on the stem to recharge while sitting idle outdoors? I commute and can only lock my bike outdoors. If I were to get an e-bike, I wonder if I could forget to charge it overnight.
it would be closer to “worth it” if you put it on or where a rear fender/rack goes. you could probably get one square foot without a massive drag penalty. maybe you can make something that unfolds to two square feet. at that point, you’re talking about 30-40 watts, which over 6-8 hours is about half of a smallish eBike battery if you had a reliable and efficient way to do DC to DC charging. unfortunately that’s not easy. there’s lots of info out there on this, but most people choose a much larger array, an inverter, and standard AC chargers. not something you want for your commute rig.