This slick-looking solar-powered electric scooter never needs to be recharged
Guys, guys, guys. I was strolling through the never-ending booths full of micromobility companies at the Eurobike 2023 trade show today when I stumbled upon what may be the coolest electric scooter to date: the S80 Solar Scooter. This very well could be the first electric scooter that never needs to be recharged.
Or perhaps I should say it’s the first electric scooter that never needs to be plugged into a wall charger. Instead, it gets all of its recharging needs met with solar panels.
That’s because the S80 Solar Scooter is quite literally covered head to toe (or feet to folding bars) with photovoltaic cells.
I’m not kidding – just look at this thing!
The miniature rolling solar array is split into two roughly equal-sized panels. The first is mounted on the steering column, and the second is mounted on the deck, or perhaps it is the deck.
Sure, the front panel’s nearly vertical orientation isn’t exactly a model for peak solar efficiency. And yes, standing on the deck solar panel probably cuts into its effectiveness. But stop raining on my parade, folks. I’m already in love!
The Chinese factory’s representatives at the booth explained how the scooter works, offering somewhere between 35 to 70 watts of solar power to recharge the scooter. Considering the 468 Wh battery on board, that means a full recharge takes between 7 and 14 hours of sunlight.
In other words, you can probably get between half to a full charge per day when the scooter is parked outside.
For anyone who only uses half of their scooter’s battery each day, that means you’ll never have to plug it in! With a rated range of 35 km (22 miles), the back-of-the-envelope math tells me that you can cruise around town for roughly 11 miles a day on purely solar-generated electricity.
On the performance side, the 350W rear motor offers a top speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph), which is likely a regulation-inspired software limit to keep the scooter legal in Europe. But the company has also completed the necessary certifications for sales in the US as well, so don’t think that we’ll be left out of the S80 Solar Scooter fun. In fact, the retail price for the US has already been announced as US $1,400.
The scooter features built-in GPS for location tracking and anti-theft. The dashboard on the handlebars offers up all the ride data you could need, including speed, trip distance, battery charge, turn signal icons, cruise control indicator, and even a check engine light.
It’s a much more elegant setup than some of the DIY solar-powered micromobility solutions we’ve seen or even the DIY projects I’ve created myself.
What do you think of the S80 Solar Scooter? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comment section below. And if you want to see the scooter in action, just check out this video. Heaven knows they could use it; the view count is in the single digits at the time of publishing.
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Tesla’s Q2 results are in, and they are way, way down from Q2 of 2024. At the same time, Nissan seems to be in serious trouble and the first-ever all-electric Dodge muscle car is getting recalled because its dumb engine noises are the wrong kind of dumb engine noises. All this and more on today’s deeply troubled episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got an awesome article from Micah Toll about a hitherto unexplored genre of electric lawn equipment, a $440 million mining equipment deal, and a list of incompetent, corrupt, and stupid politicians who voted away their constituents’ futures to line their pockets.
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OpenAI is distancing itself from Robinhood‘s latest crypto push after the trading platform began offering tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe.
“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity,” OpenAI wrote on X. “We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it.”
The company said that “any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer,” and warned users to “please be careful.”
Robinhood announced the launch Monday from Cannes, France, as part of a broader product showcase focused on tokenized equities, staking, and a new blockchain infrastructure play. The company’s stock surged above $100 to hit a new all-time high following the news.
“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.
Robinhood offered 5 euros worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to eligible EU users who signed up to trade stock tokens by July 7. The assets are issued under the EU’s looser investor restrictions via Robinhood’s crypto platform.
“This is about expanding access,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and GM of crypto. “The goal with tokenization is to let anyone participate in this economy.”
The episode highlights the dynamic between crypto platforms seeking to democratize access to financial products and the companies whose names and equity are being represented on-chain
U.S. users cannot access these tokens due to regulatory restrictions.
Despite the warnings, BYD continues introducing new discounts. On Wednesday, BYD’s luxury off-road brand began offering over 50% Huawei’s smart driving tech.
BYD introduces new discounts on smart driving tech
After BYD cut prices again in May, the China Automobile Manufacturers Association (CAMA) warned that the ultra-low prices are “triggering a new round of price war panic.”
Although they didn’t single out BYD, it was pretty obvious. BYD slashed prices across 22 of its vehicles by up to 34%, triggering several automakers to follow suit in China.
BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull, typically starts at about $10,000 (66,800 yuan). After the price cuts, the Seagull is listed at under $8,000 (55,800 yuan).
It doesn’t look like China’s EV leader plans to slow down anytime soon. Fang Cheng Bao, BYD’s luxury off-road brand, introduced new discounts on Huawei’s smart driving tech on Wednesday.
The limited-time offer cuts the price of Huawei’s Qiankun Intelligent Driving High-end Function Package to just 12,000 yuan ($1,700).
Buyers who order the smart driving tech in July will save over 50% compared to its typical price of 32,000 yuan ($4,500).
Earlier this year, Fang Chang Bao launched the Tai 3, its most affordable vehicle, starting at 139,800 yuan ($19,300). The Tai 3 is about the size of the Tesla Model Y, but costs about half as much.
The Tai 3 will spearhead a new sub-brand of electric SUVs following the more premium Bao 8 and Bao 5 hybrid SUVs.
BYD’s luxury off-road brand sold 18,903 vehicles last month, up 50% from May and 605% compared to last year. Fang Cheng Bao has now sold over 10,000 vehicles for three consecutive months.
The Chinese EV giant sold 382,585 vehicles in total in June, an increase of 12% from last year. In the first half of the year, BYD’s cumulative sales reached over 2.1 million, a YOY increase of 33%.
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