DIY Solar Flyer motorcycle tearing around Phoenix, Arizona
By Laura June 
posted May 6th 2009 7:39PM
posted May 6th 2009 7:39PM
Phoenix area resident and motorcycle enthusiast Richard Gryzch got tired of gassing up his bike all the time, and he decided to do something about it. Rather than getting a fancy electric motorcycle, he modded one for himself -- making an electric bike that is seemingly covered in solar panels. The motorcycle uses no gas, goes up to about 90 miles per hour and has a range of around 50 miles. There are very few details about the inner workings of the bike, so we're loathe to say it's 100 percent solar, but Richard does plan on extending his bike's range of 300 miles. Hit the read link to watch an extremely tiny video of Richard and his bike.
Yeah, I posted on the AutoBlogGreen that its 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... www.evfr.net if you want to see... notice I don't overinflate the numbers.
Confirmed by ElectricMotorsport that Richard Gryzch bought the GPR from them several years ago, saying that he had some sort of invention that would increase the range.
I guess a few 15W solar panels taped all over his bike was "an invention".....
Isn't there a guy that's touring the US on an electric bicycle towing a trailer covered in solar panels. Seems more awkward, but I can see this improving the range and charging time.
They never mentioned charge times, but it could be like 50 miles and 30 hour solar charge. It would always be outside anyway. It would be more realistic to plug it in.
Sweet concept. I wonder what type of photovoltaic cells he uses, there is not a lot of surface on a bike.
+green cred
-no helmet
=wash