Upon hearing the name "Solar Bike Fujin," designed by a Japanese space rover engineer, we leaned back in our chairs and dreamed up dramatic images of a futuristic bicycle dashing across the void before cruising the
turbulent surface of the sun. However, when we watched the rest of the video below we realized that the bike will instead conquer rather more terrestrial routes at speeds well short of escape velocity (72km/h, or about 45mph). It is, however,
powered by the sun, able to run 220km on a full charge or, thanks to its aerodynamicaly profiled solar wings, can give itself 50km worth of juice just by sitting in the sun while you put in your 9-to-5. This is helped by incredibly low rolling-resistance wheels, the front one able to keep rotating for 20 minutes on its own with just a gentle spin, technology borrowed from creator Mr. Yamawaki's Minerva rover that was part of the
Hayabusa probe. Hopefully this bike manages to get a little further than that rover did.
posted August 5th 2010 10:29AM
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Interesting. I'd be willing to get one of these if the price is right.
@leigh
Agreed. I would love to have a solar bike for the summer time, would be awesome.
Side Note: Those low resistance wheels are insane...
@leigh -- Living in Florida, it is sunny all morning, and rainy in the afternoon... Being able to charge during the day (and have a full charge when I leave) would work out pretty perfectly... The mention the rain, but no word on if it's water resitant? Could this thing get drenched? And I wonder if it can charge your phone...
@leigh
I'd like to get one too but UK is mostly covered with cloud and rain; don't think there'll be enough sun juice.
136 miles on a bike? At 45 MPH? That can be charged for free from the sun? Fancy wheel? Sounds expensive. I'll take 2.
*facepalm* "Fancy wheel"
jesus those are nice wheels
@bati555 Indeed, enough to make Three 6 Mafia jealous!
45mph? Sounds more like it'll fill the needs of a moped, not a motorcycle. Either way it should be more than enough for anywhere except rural Japan, dunno about any other country where you can actually travel at the speed limit.
@Muu
Actually, it's too fast to be considered a limited speed motorcycle or an e-bike where I am!
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/emerging/#limited
However, I agree, not nearly quick enough...yet, solar panels are getting better by the day though. It also probably doesn't sound as nice as an inline 4 at 14000rpms =]
@gfar AFAIK I'm used to reading regulations based on the CCs rather than the speed in 2 countries I've lived in, but can't really be sure if there isn't an over-riding max speed as well. In any case, I think if this bike or others can get some mind share then exceptions to laws can be made, I can't imagine a government wanting to limit 1-5 million of these type of bikes being sold within their borders.
another solar bike and soon to be in small production
http://www.thekpv.com
Would be awesome to use to and from work.
I just hope no one steals my solar panels, then I just have a bike powered by my house. =(
@lilboywonder In Japan, no one really steals anything...so that's why I think the design was made this way. I dropped my wallet once in the middle of a busy area, and no one picked it up for 5 hours. I came back and it was on the ground where I dropped it. If you come to the states, I'm sure people will attach some kind of locking bar to the bike.
Low rolling resistance has more to do with the tires contacting the road than the axle bearing friction. The fact that an unloaded wheel spins forever is nice, but has little to do with the efficiency of the bike driving on real roads.
@appsman Not true... let's see your car reacts when your wheel bearings start to go out. Have you ever got sand in a bearing of a rollerblade wheel. It has a lot to do with distance.
If friction is reducing the movement of the wheel... then all of your energy is being wasted. RRWheels are important too... maybe more important, but everything counts here.
@Rome I'm not saying bearings can be damaged or crap and it won't matter. What I am saying is that, assuming reasonable bearings like you'd find on any reasonable bike, rolling resistance has more to do with tires. Spinning the wheel in air says almost nothing about rolling resistance. As for the car analogy, try spinning a (non drive) wheel on your car when it's jacked up, it won't spin at all because the brake calipers are always touching.
Not much use in a big city downtown where bikes are welcome alternatives to heavy traffic. You'd need roof parking to get the sun.