What would you call something that can be tagged like a trolley luggage bag and when needed, simply open it up to drive around the town? No dear, am not playing riddle game here. I just stumbled upon a vehicle that can be summarized like this! Dubbed as the Sun Fold Bike, its name does most of the explanation. Sun = it is solar powered, Fold = it can be collapsed in to a compact handy structure and lastly Bike = two wheeler bike (simple isn’t it?). But that’s not all to it. Designer CaO dawei has given shape to his idea of green bike which has won accolades at international design competitions. Focusing on two elements, that is optimizing and utilizing solar energy plus space-saving, this eco-friendly concept includes a folding bike that is juiced up by solar panels.
The solar panels absorb the sun’s energy which is transferred to the battery. Surplus energy is stored in inverter to be used at night. Hence powered by an electric motor and two batteries, this bike can run without hesitating even in dark. However it gets more interesting as this extra stored energy can also be used to power standard house hold electronics like TV or music player. Mr. CaO, you’ve scored bonus points for this feature.
And coming to the point of how do you feed this bike with its share of solar power. It is supposed to be hooked up to a lotus-like pedestal that opens up its computerized reflective panels. These panels follow the sun rays and result in maximum sun power. When placed on a reflective pedestal, about 95% solar energy is effectively absorbed. However the designer has also accommodated solar panels on the bike’s outer body so that it can feed on to the sun’s rays even as you drive.
A perfect compact green bike for urban commuting!
WOW! Isn’t future going to be exciting?? Such awesome designs.. Just imagining office staff coming on this bike till office building and then folding it and tagging it along to their cubicles..... or students tagging it in their classrooms :) ... no worry about parking or it getting stolen... plus no petrol required ... wondering how much time it would take to fully charge?
Exactly, folding up your bike and tagging it along is the best option. No parking hassles! And no worrying about increasing gasoline prices. I would love to own something like this myself. Wonder when such concepts will see daylight.
I loved the ”tagging it along” idea a lot. It can make things so convenient. Like sometimes when I have to go to town for work, I hate to drive thru the traffic - sucks traveling for 2 and half hours to cover 24 kms !!! Would prefer train anytime but the problem with trains is reaching station to board the train and then to get down and reach destinations (usually different places)....
So if I had this, I wud take this to station, fold it, carry it in train, get down, open it and go for my work (except to manage getting into crowded Mumbai train in peak hour can be challenging, non-peak hour no problem) ... and of course saving on fuel compared to the gas I burn when taking my car...
Yes, even I would love to see this stuff getting launched soon.
Manish, the designer hasn’t been liberal on more detailed info. What ever I could manage to gather from the text on the images, I passed it on :)
Oh ok. In that case you could manage to pick up quite a lot :) .. thanks for this post.
I completely agree with Manish! No wonder i’ve penned down on the same bike.
Haunting incidents of being sandwhiched in the train on my way to college makes me long for such a bike :(
Yes Ruchi, wouldn’t it be awesome to have something like this.... commuting can become so easy, inexpensive and without causing damage to the environment.
sounds great i hope it will be affordable when it comes out the market. more stuff like this at Autopartswarehouse.com
