Introduction
We wanted to take a long cycling trip to mark our retirement, with my wife Blandine. The problem was crossing the mountains, which we enjoy but wasn’t really suited to our abilities… Hence the idea of traveling by electric bike, but this presented many constraints regarding charging and limiting our camping options. Discovering the Sun Trip made me think that a solar solution might be possible. Meeting Christophe Bayard (through his website Ve-Tech), who advised us, sold us the equipment, and set up the remote connections, allowed us to take the plunge into solar-powered cycling.
We’ve covered about 17,000 km on solar bikes over the last 5 years, including a 6-month round trip to Bulgaria. Last year, I switched bikes, getting an Azub trike. That’s the bike shown here.
Technical description
The bike
Pascal’s bike is an AZUB Tricon 26 trike bought second-hand. It was already equipped with a mid-drive motor.
The Motor
Bafang BBS02 500W 48V mid-drive motor. It is controlled by a simple display with 9 levels of assistance. I have set the assistance levels very gradually to maximize energy efficiency.
The Battery
48V 900Wh Battery
The solar equipment
Two solar panels, 130 Wp and 50 Wp (with Sunpower Maxeon 3 cells). Each panel is connected to its own Boost 400 W MPPT solar charge controller with LED display. The supporting structure is made of wood: glued bed slats. It’s attached to the frame with exhaust pipe clamps and welded steel parts of my own design (thanks to my neighbor Jean-Claude, who was a welder!).
The panels are attached to an aluminum frame using double-sided foam tape. This frame is mounted on an aluminum tube (40 mm in diameter). The panels can be tilted even while riding. The locking mechanism is secured by a seat clamp and a piece of 16-inch wheel rim.
Lessons Learned
From the outset, our objective was to go wherever we wanted, without worrying about speed but with good comfort and therefore a certain weight. We also wanted good range, without aiming for total autonomy. My first solar bike was a recumbent, a Lynx Optima, and we each had a Bob Yak trailer with a 120Wp panel. This objective was achieved with stages of 50 to 60 km per day and minimal use of the electric assist. In June or July, with stages that weren’t too hilly, we didn’t need to charge the bikes from the mains.
Last year, I was almost always energy self-sufficient with my trike and could give Blandine a few watt-hours using a cable between the two bikes during our long lunch breaks. We did a trip of about 3,000 km, quite mountainous (Redon – Grindewald and Gimselpass in Switzerland – Chamonix – Bourg d’Oisans – crossing the Vercors and then the Massif Central – Redon). In terms of comfort, the trike offers a very clear improvement. A recumbent bicycle requires control, especially on a mountain pass that you climb slowly to conserve energy.
Two years ago, I had a few falls at low speed, nothing serious, but still unpleasant! It’s nervous fatigue that disappears with the trike; I don’t plan on going back to a two-wheeled bicycle for the trip… The motors are sufficient for our way of traveling; it’s more the solar power that’s the limiting factor. We tackled hills with gradients of up to 20%…
Positive Points
Comfortable and quiet trike.
Few technical issues (although we did replace an MPPT solar charge controller due to problems with the ELEJOY model).
The wooden frame is stable and sturdy.