Infinite Solar E-Cargo Bikes, See You Later Network Charging!

For e-cargo bikes, photovoltaic charging makes a lot of sense

Infinite is a Norwegian ebike manufacturer. Its e-cargo bikes, the LØKKA and the INGA, standout for deploying a quite powerful array of solar panels.

Norway is perhaps the country which is investing more on e-mobility. The majority of cars sold in Norway are electric. No wonder the first cargo ebike manufacturer to offer an e-cargo that can be completely recharged by its solar photovoltaic panels is Norwegian.

One may ask, why solar panels are not adopted by electric cars, except for the most recent Toyota Prius? The reason is that cars are heavy, fast, not assisted by pedaling, hence their energy consumption is an average 16 kW for hundred kilometers, compared to an average 0.6 kW for hundred kilometers for ebikes. Cargo ebikes sure consume 2 to 3 times more, but they offer wider surfaces than regular ebikes for installing solar panels.

Infinite Løkka solar cargo ebike

About 50 km of free range per day

The Norwegian manufacturer, with seats in Oslo and in Hamburg (Germany) has designed two electric cargo bikes. The first electric cargo bike is the “Inga”, a two-wheeler with a front box. Then there is the “Løkka”, a three-wheeler with a rear box providing between 1 and 1.5 m3 of storage space.

Although they have different shapes and steel frames, they both use the solution of photovoltaic panels on the load. The Inga has panels on the top and sides, providing 163 Wh of production capacity, while the Løkka adds more on the sides, giving a total output of 550 Wh. That should be enough to daily guarantee about 50 km of range for both of them. Infinite even boasts that these e-cargoes can be charged exclusively by the sun, without never plugging them, provided that you park them outside.

Sufficient photovoltaic energy to completely charge almost every day

Those who have got a photovoltaic roof know it. In a central European country, a 2.4 kW solar system produces on average 10 kW of electricity per day all year long, from 1.5 kW in rainy winter days to 16-17 kW in sunny spring and summer days. Proportionally, Løkka 4.3 times smaller output of 550 Wh is enough  to produce a daily average of 2.3 kW of electricity a year, what is largely sufficient to recharge its 1.2 kilowatt battery. Only rainy or cloudy days in the winter would not provide enough sunlight (roughly 0.4 kW) for a complete charge.

Infinite INGA solar cargo ebike

The advantages of solar photovoltaic panels for cargo ebikes

Solar panels charging power: the surface to power ratio

Solar panels need wide surfaces to produce sufficient power. Top quality photovoltaic panels produce some 260 Wh per square meter. Although there is no room to install a one square meter of solar panels on a regular ebike, cargo ebikes can offer much wider surfaces to mount it. 260Wh/m² at peak power is the maximum electricity they can produce when they can get the most sun energy, that is in a sunny day around noon, for panels that are oriented toward the sun with an almost flat angle. In these conditions, solar panels with a 260W output (having a 1 m² surface) would add some 230W per hour to thebattery, reckoning a more or less 10% dispersion, what happens also with plug in standard battery chargers.

Their weight to power ratio could be better

For the above mentioned 260 Wh peak power panel, we can approximatively reckon a weight of 5.2 kg, roughly 20 g per watt, provided it’s a flexible thin-film 2 or 3 mm thick solar panel. A polycrystalline rigid one would be 50% heavier for the same energy output, although it would last longer, more or less 30 years. No wonder the two Infinity e-cargo bikes weigh 45 kg (Inga) and 90 kg (Løkka).

Price to power ratio is not their biggest advantage

If we are to include the cost of the inverter charger, which turns the photovoltaic energy produced by the panels into electricity, and delivers it to the battery, we can easily reckon some two euros per watt, tax included, in Europe. As we wrote here, any ebike consumes about 0.2 cents of euro per kilometer, so 0.2 euros for a hundred kilometers. A loaded e-cargo bike would need two to three times more energy, also because it would hardly exceeded 25 km/h, thus always using motor assistance. That is tantamount to 0.6 euros every hundred kilometers. Making deliveries all day long, an e-cargo bike could easily ride 10,000 km a year, thus spending 60 euros of electricity, what you would save should you charge it exclusively with solar panels. One could roughly reckon that solar panels producing 60 euros a year of electricity would cost altogether around 1,000 euros. A not so profitable investment, which would become convenient when and if the e-cargo bike exceeds 18 years of usage.

Avoiding plug-in charging is what makes these cargo ebikes a game changer

Much more than saving money, solar charging is the most enticing feature of these e-cargo bikes. Think about range anxiety and the real risk of remaining stuck far from your company because of an exhausted battery. You would just have to park your e-cargo bike in the sunlight, even when it’s cloudy, for one or two hours, in order to get sufficient energy to return. Moreover, in case it were complicated or impossible to recharge at your company’s facilities, you could always recharge simply parking in the sunlight. Of course, you could prefer solar charging just to save money and be more ecological. Even during deliveries your batteries would be recharged to a good extent, although not totally.

Moreover, their powerful solar charging could enable day-long selling beverages and ice creams or delivering fresh food with a refrigerated container.

Infinite’s brave bet on photovoltaic charging

Taking a look on Infinite e-cargo bikes, one can clearly notice that they are quite minimalistic, abstaining from offering special features like sophisticated electronics, fancy riding applications and gadgets.  They thus keep their price quite competitive and affordable, focusing on solar panels as their main and almost unique competitive advantage. What is probably a winning strategy, since they are the first e-cargo manufacturer to equip its ebikes with powerful solar panels. Nevertheless, they do offer two of the most valuable features for an e-cargo bike: an Enviolo Heavy Duty automatic gear hub with belt transmission, and their Danish Promovec motor delivering a whopping 100 Nm of torque. They are still at an early stage, looking for reselling partners.

Infinite’s e-trike

For the moment it is only a photo on their website. Infinite’s futuristic e-trike, solar-powered as well, sure looks awesome, see the picture below.

Infinite’s solar-powered futuristic e-trike

Infinite’s LØKKA and INGA at a glance

• Frame: Steel
• Frame size: One-size-fits-all frame
• Suspension fork: Rigid
• Motor/Generator: Promovec 100 Nm
• Energy storage system: 672 Wh (INGA) – 1200 Wh  (LØKKA) Li-ion battery
• Control unit: Promovec
• Drivetrain: Enviolo Heavy Duty
• Brakes: Hydraulic disc brakes
• Weight: 45 kg (INGA) – 90 kg (LØKKA)
• Maximum permitted total weight: 250 kg (LØKKA) – 180 kg (INGA)
• Colour: White
• Price: 11 810 euros (LØKKA) – 6 950 euros (INGA), tax excluded.

Pictures: Infinite