MendoMotive Electric Bicycles at Solfest 2000

MendoMotive Electric Bicycles at Solfest 2000
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Trailer construction details on this page.
The solar charging system got a great workout at this event. For information about the annual SolFest Renewable Energy Fair at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA see this page. Over the course of two days, we gave over one thousand test rides of electric bikes to people. Amazingly enough, there was only one small case of road rash suffered, and very few problems with the bikes. We were able to provide electric power to folks needing power tools and charging of car batteries. We had sun throughout both days and although the battery bank was partially depleted at the end of the event, there was still plenty of capacity available for use.

Shortly after actor/activist Ed Begley Jr. arrived in the first Toyota Prius that any of us had ever seen, we had him testing out our electric bikes. (see picture)

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader was delivered to the stage area in an electric Porsche Spyder constructed by MendoMotive Electric Vehicles.

Specifications:

Owner: MendoMotive Electric Bicycles
Location: Mendocino, Calif.
Base Vehicle: Haulmark 20' Trailer
PV Panels: (12) UniSolar US64 - rated at 768W output
Inverter: Trace DR3624 24VDC to 120VAC 3.6kW
Charge Controller(s): Trace
Batteries: (24) Trojan 105 6V
System Voltage: 24VDC/120VAC
Instrumentation: E-Meter