What happens when you mix solar power, DIY spirit, and a seriously long bike ride? You get Becca Farsace’s wild and wonderful mission to build an e-bike with unlimited range, and actually ride it from New York City to her parents’ place in Rochester.
That’s about 450 miles, powered by sun, pedals, and just a little bit of madness.
The idea was simple: could you build an e-bike that could be charged literally in the middle of nowhere? What made the whole thing tick was a custom-built trailer designed by Brendan Carberry. It carried three 100-watt solar panels that could fold in for city riding and expand out in the countryside to soak up as much sunlight as possible. The panels fed into a smart charging system hooked up to a rotation of battery packs, which were removable high-capacity units that powered the e-bike and kept the trip rolling.
One battery would power the bike, another would charge, and a third stayed on standby, in case of emergencies. It was all about keeping the juice flowing, even in the middle of nowhere.
It wasn’t without pain. The Big Rig, as she called it, was heavy and awkward. The trailer rattled over rough roads and hills became brutal without full assist. To stretch battery life, Becca kept the motor setting low. This meant that she was doing a lot of the work with her own legs. Add in overcast skies and the slow trickle of solar charging, and it made for a ride that was more survival test than smooth cruise.
Still, it worked. She got there. And that’s seriously badass.
Naturally, a project as crazy and wild as this could lead us to ask the question: is this the future of e-mobility? Well, the truth is that it’s probably not—not in this exact form, at least. Most folks aren’t looking to pull a trailer full of solar panels just to get to work. But Becca’s project proves something bigger: that mobility can be self-sufficient, and that the tools are already out there for people to build their own off-grid adventure machines.
It’s not always going to be comfortable, and it’s definitely not going to be easy, but it is possible. And sometimes, that’s entirely the point.
Source: Becca Farsace via YouTube
