Solar Flyer – Electric Motorcycle Powered by Solar Energy
Anyone living near Phoenix, Arizona would be able to tell you that there’s a reason the area is nicknamed “The Valley of the Sun.” It may be mildly oppressive from time to time (or just about all summer, depending on your point of view), but the sun is also a valuable natural resource that gives off more than enough energy to power our various transportation needs.
A Phoenix-area man by the name of Richard Gryzch decided to tap into that natural resource to power an electric motorcycle he calls the Solar Flyer. Details are decidedly scarce, but Gryzch claims his bike can top 90 miles per hour and has a range of 50 miles. Naturally, we’d assume that there are some batteries hidden away under the Derbi’s red plastic bodywork, which appears to be coated with wherever a bit of room is available.
In reality, it’s likely that it would take a very long time to completely recharge those batteries solely with the solar panels on the bike’s outer skin, but Gryzch has more ambitious plans in the works, saying he has a goal of reaching a 300-mile range in time. Bellow you can see how this solar-powered motorcycle works.
Source: Autobloggreen
TRAVIS says:
May 8th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
His bike is an original EMS GPR..
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/06/phoenix-man-taps-into-the-sun-with-his-diy-solar-motorcycle/#comments
First off, this guy didn’t invent shit.. he didn’t even BUILD that bike.. he took a GPR from Electric Motorsport that they sold a few years ago and wired up some solar cells. Look at this link:
http://www.electricmotorsport.com/EGPR/egprPage.htm
Notice the paint scheme. Its the same as his, the front, and even the rear where there are checkered flags painted on it.
Next, there’s a SMALL quick shot showing where the wires come out of the solar panels….Doesn’t look like very heavy gauge wire to me… I seriously doubt they’re putting much out… It looks like he strapped a bunch of cheap solar cells to the bike and called a reporter….Easy to make claims, harder to prove them. I bet it’d take DAYS to recharge his pack…
Third, he’s also saying he gets 50 miles, he’s got to have at LEAST 6kwh or so in the because he’s using LEAD ACID! those things are heavy, and you get at MOST 75% of their capacity out of them due to peukert effects AND not being able to take them past 80% DOD. Because its lead, its heavy and his bike isn’t going to get much better than 125Wh/mile… so 50 miles… 6250Wh or so… and thats the 75% of the battery capacity…. so that’d be over 8kwh that he’d need on board to go 50 miles with lead…. unless he’s saying that 50 miles is at 30 mph (he MIGHT get 100wh/mile) and he’d still need over 6500Wh of batteries. This is in an ideal situation, which I’m sure its not.
Lets say he’s got 6kwh of batteries in there (benefit of the doubt), thats over 400lbs of batteries (at an avg of 15Wh/Lb). Most bikes don’t weight much more than that BEFORE they’re converted… he’s telling us 50 miles and we’re supposed to believe that? Thats ONLY BATTERY weight, that doesn’t include chassis and motor.
If it was lifepo4, I’d believe it…. but not only is it a short article with very few details, its about someone that the electric motorcycle community has never heard of. It actually looks like an original GPR from Derbi that Electric Motorsport offered a few years ago…. with the exception of the solar cells.
And yes, I have an electric motorcycle…
earthling says:
May 21st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Anyone who watches television know that everything is edited and a lot of important material or details are cut out in editing so before we judge lets get the whole story…I know the bike was biult in barcelona spain it was a gas bike it was turned to electric in california and it only had a range of 4.7 miles on one charge but since then it know has a range of 50 miles and a continuous charge to the batteris thanks to the solar… So lets slow the roll till you hear the whole story…Go for it reach for the stars man no one else is.