Two-day folding e-bike camping trip powered by portable solar

Oct 31, 2026 Last reply: 1 day ago 4 Replies

Rate this thread:

rkeller_1954 2 days ago

This is a two-day, 160 km off-grid camping run on a folding electric bike, kept charged by folding panels alone. Two black panels rated at 160 watts combined feed a small Bluetti Elite 10 power station, and the bike charger draws AC output from it. The display showed 94 to 100 watts of solar input with 85 to 89 watts reaching the charger, and the panels still managed 100 watts at 6 PM. By mid-morning the next day the bike battery read all five LEDs.

The whole charging kit, panels, cables and power bank, comes to about 5.2 kg. To my eye that light weight is what makes the idea work on a folding bike. The station holds only 128 watt-hours and takes a maximum 100-watt solar input, and it serves mainly as a buffer while the bike charges rather than storing a full day of energy. The standout detail for me is the angled panel stands built from segmented tent poles, tilted toward the low evening sun, then set up again on the riverbank the next morning. A phone charges straight off a panel through an integrated USB cable.

Packing was cut down to four bags for the train: a front luggage block bag with cooking gear and the power bank, a handlebar roll with food and a sleeping pad, a rear rack pack carrying the tent and panels, and bedding in an extended seat post pack. Breakfast and coffee came off a portable spirit stove.

On the road, 50 km in pedal-assist eco mode left two of five LED dots, and a forest road climb was marked as a 25 percent grade increase. In high heat with water running low, assistance went up to mode 2. The bike went back together on a city street in roughly seven minutes.

Water was the failure point. The handlebar bottle cage loosened and detached on day two, the threads would not hold, and the warm water in the fork bladder was poured out rather than drunk. The maker calls the water setup a failure and lists changes for next time, though exactly which ones are not detailed. As a first attempt, it leaves the question of how much further this could go.

Project by out here systems. Watch it on their YouTube channel:

formatting link

Vote

sawdust_builder 2 days ago

Those tent pole panel stands are the part I keep thinking about. How do the segmented poles actually hold the panels at the right angle on uneven riverbank ground, and do they pack down inside the rear rack pack together with the panels?

Vote

PrairieTom62 2 days ago

Running the station as a buffer instead of a big battery looks like the smartest call here. With only 128 watt-hours on board and a 100-watt input cap, the whole kit stays around 5.2 kg, and the numbers show the panels carried the load anyway. The trade-off, in my view, is that a cloudy stretch leaves you with almost no stored reserve.

Vote

Greg_Moss_1979 2 days ago

Given how the water side went, I would split the supply on the next trip: keep the fork bladder but carry a plain bottle or two somewhere else on the bike as well. One failed mount would then be an annoyance instead of a ride-ending problem in the heat.

Vote

lisa.barlow 2 days ago

The maker has not explained how the tent pole stands are built or how they grip the ground. What is known is that they are made from segmented tent poles, that they angled the panels toward the low evening sun, and that the same stands were set up on the riverbank again the next morning.

Vote