From TreeHugger:
Don Dunklee's DIY Solar Cycle
One of the questions that comes up most often when people ask me about the
ForkenSwift is whether or not I could recharge it from solar panels, like this...
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To pull off this feat, he installed two sets of folding panels that generate 120 watts in good sun. The bike's batteries hold 2400 watt-hours, so a Michigan summer's 9 hours of daily sun charges the battery about 1/2 full. Don estimates his ride uses only 25% of that. So, even with the occasional cloudy day (unfortunately, not uncommon in Michigan) doesn't mean the bike is dead. But, just in case, the factory charging apparatus is still intact.
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But you can see from this example, this guy can *barely* keep his scooter 1/2 charged with that number of panels - and the scooter may be 10 times more energy efficient than the ForkenSwift!
So, as AndrewJ said:
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So in short, yes a fold down solar panel could charge an EV, it would just take a month or so to reach a full charge. That or you'd have to have a huge array of solar panels to recharge it in any reasonable amount of time.
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Or, you use a
really efficient EV, like an e-bike, so the panels have some hope of being able to replace the small amount of energy the vehicle uses.
