The Sun Trip is a simple and powerful idea : a starting
point, an end point 7200 km away and a free path for adventurers on
solar cycle. So twelve days
back many bikes, tandem, handcycle and trikes, all carrying solar panels left France headed EAST.
All had common goal Astana
in Kazakhstan but no
fixed route to reach there. This
is a
An adventure in energy independence
as put by a competitor on a trike -
Jorge Moïta.
The story
being told in
French language all the way and
we have to be satisfied
with google / bing
translate. Azub team
posts their progress in English
also http://www.facebook.com/CzechSolarTeam?ref=stream&hc_location=stream
and that
seems easiest way to follow
the race.
Three years
ago a Frenchman
Florian Bailly pedaled into Tokyo . It was
a long trip through 12 countries
and across two continents. Uniqueness
of his trip lies in the use of solar panels to recharge his batteries. After leaving France ,
the solar cyclist traveled through Italy ,
Slovenia , Croatia , Serbia ,
Romania , Ukraine , Russia ,
Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan and China , before finally reaching his
destination, japan.
In the future
he says it’s his dream to create a new solar electric bike race from France
to other places in the world in the following article
- http://www.english.rfi.fr/environment/20101012-french-solar-cyclist-finishes-epic-journey-tokyo
Sure. He kept
his word. He has organized a 7300
km solar electric bike race that is now in progress.
Now there are about thirty
participants and no two machines
are alike. Every team
built their own
e-bike and traveling without support crew. No
fixed route. Just two checkpoints. Naturally their position is all spread out now in http://www.dolink.fr/carte/the-sun-trip
Northern route means less solar radiation but flatter terrain. Southern route means more help from Sun to tackle hilly roads. The leaders of the North route are now in
While searching suitable trike for me three years back, I had short listed AZUB trike from
I tried
to build a similar solar
powered vehicle after returning from that 1600 km trip but unfortunately getting the
specific unique components from abroad is a very difficult job. Had lot
of discussion with Mohith and Ashok. The
response from solar
panel manufacturers in India was
ZERO.
The panels
made in India are low in efficiency, high
in weight, sturdy built to withstand cyclones
& of unsuitable voltage -
12 V. I needed
high efficiency 36 V output. It is not difficult to rewire
before lamination stage but Indian manufacturers
simply do not listen to
village bumpkins. They can certainly help as in above video.
There was safety factor too. I had a doubt if the other road users, especially on motor cycle will show decency. Making it more visible will be a compromise on aerodynamics and will need more energy to push forward.
Then there was no way to charge
Li Ion batteries with DC energy
was major hurdle. Even using solar panels means need to take DC to AC to DC route means considerable energy lost during conversion. Now there is a charger
available in America . This custom convertor means it can directly connect panels to batteries.
My health and
finances are also
not strong enough to
make it happen. Whirlpool of
family problems sucked me
and so I
had to keep the project pending.
Research in electric cycle mobility
is totally funded
by common mans savings. Naturally it suffers. Anyway this race offers lot of hopes and performance of different teams will show future solar mobility options. Some participants have covered 200 plus km means this is practical too. Btw, that is something I have been saying loudly past three years but few people listen.
