Electric bicycle casts a long shadow

Electric bicycles have long been possible, but the trailing cord was a real problem. So here's an electric bicycle with the solar panels built into the disks of the wheels where there is a considerable amount of surface area but an unfortunate orientation. This bicycle's inventor is from Denmark, so that explains a lot.  At latitude 56 degrees north the sun is always sort of low in the sky.  Now here in the upper Midwest at some 40 degrees north, in summer the sun is considerably higher and correspondingly these wheels will capture less solar energy.  If you live in the tropics, well, you just out of luck because you'll have a electric bicycle that needs to be on its side to function well at capturing energy, but non-functional as a vehicle. However you can park the bicycle in such a manner as to capture solar energy for your ride home, but no some thought must be put into the orientation and placement of bicycle racks and to the orientation of the bike in the rack. And those of us who always looked for a shady spot to park our bikes must learn some new habits. 

You'll get a charge out of this bicycle

Here's another electrified bicycle, the FlyKly, a very clever one at that.  The entire works is housed in a modified wheel hub so that regular pedaling or coasting down hills can charge batteries to power an electric motor at speeds up to 20 mph.  The wheels come in 24" and 26" diameters, and that really bums TPP out since the rear wheel on his BikeE is smaller.  Drat. Would have posted an image, and given them the tremendous free PR that comes from being mentioned in one of these blogs, but nooo, they had to say their images copyrighted, so this is the best that can be done.  Think about it fellows, or maybe this would be "fair usage"?

Very cool E-bike

For the longest time TPP has loved his BikeE, but here's an E-bike that is very cool, and very cute.  It's an all electric bike.  Notice the lack of a chain.  Pedalling just charges the batteries so you can go longer between charges, or don't pedal, but you never have to worry about getting chain grease on you pant leg (a BikeE problem).  It's small and foldable so you can take right into your office and not have to worry about having it ripped off.  This is definitely worth looking into.  If you have one, let us know what it's like.