Solar Delivery Tricycles: Electric tricycles charged with solar energy

Solar Delivery Tricycles

Electric tricycles charged with solar energy

Solar-powered delivery: electric cargo vehicles that carry their own panel

Solar Delivery Tricycles, a 2019 project of Light Humanity's Ecosocial Innovation Lab, brings solar energy to delivery work: its electric vehicles recharge from a panel mounted on the lid of the cargo box.

  • What it is: electric delivery tricycles charged by solar energy.
  • How they recharge: with a solar panel on the lid of each cargo box.
  • On the cargo boxes: the logos of Light Humanity, Zunpower, KorGo, Mensos and Kaccelerator.
  • What for: deliveries; KorGo and Mensos, two of the brands on the cargo boxes, presented themselves as last-mile courier services.
  • Where it fits: it is one of the five projects in the lab's Mobility area, the one that followed the 2018 Solar Bicycle.
Five cargo bikes with coloured boxes from Mensos, Light Humanity, KorGo, Kaccelerator and Zunpower
Five delivery vehicles, each with an organisation's logo on its cargo box. Photo: project archive
Five electric delivery bikes with solar panels on the raised lids of their cargo boxes
With the cargo box lids raised, the solar panels are visible; in front, the KorGo box. Photo: project archive
Five delivery bikes with a solar panel on the cargo box lid, parked in a park
With the lids closed, the solar panel sits on top of the cargo box. Photo: project archive
White electric cargo bike with a yellow Light Humanity box and an orange Zunpower lid
The vehicle with the Light Humanity cargo box, in front of a graffiti-covered wall. Photo: project archive

From the 2018 solar bicycle to the 2019 solar delivery tricycles

A year earlier, in 2018, Eugenio García-Calderón rode around Spain on a solar bicycle with Solar Pedalling, the campaign against the sun tax by Zima Project, the forerunner of Light Humanity. As Yorokobu reported, his message was that solar energy “was not only sustainable, but could power any vehicle”.

  • 2018: the Solar Bicycle, an electric bicycle with a trailer of solar panels, travels around Spain.
  • 2019: the same year saw the start of Light of the Amazon, solar lamps for families in the Brazilian Amazon, and The Green Voice, a solar loudspeaker for the climate marches.

Delivery vehicles with a solar panel on the cargo box lid

The energy travels with the load: the solar panel covers the lid of the cargo box. This way, the delivery vehicle carries with it the source that recharges it.

  • The reason: in March 2019, ESMARTCITY saw last-mile delivery with clean vehicles as a way of reducing combustion and heavy-duty vehicles in cities.
  • The panel: one per cargo box, fixed to the lid and raised along with it.
  • The cargo box: sits in front of the rider, painted orange, green or yellow, with an organisation's logo.
  • The lid: orange and bearing the Zunpower brand on all five vehicles in the group photo.

Five logos on the cargo boxes: Light Humanity, Zunpower, KorGo, Mensos and Kaccelerator

Each cargo box bears an organisation's logo. According to their own websites, alongside Light Humanity there are a vehicle brand, two last-mile courier services and an impact investment fund.

  • Light Humanity: the NGO founded by Eugenio García-Calderón Huerta; its cargo box is the yellow one.

KorGo and Mensos, two last-mile courier services using cargo bikes

  • KorGo: described itself as “a last-mile courier service” with “zero-emission shipments”, with a network of partners delivering by cargo bike and electric vehicle (KorGo website, 2021).
  • Mensos: “sustainable bicycle courier service in Madrid”, according to its website. In March 2019, ESMARTCITY reported that it delivered from its urban distribution centre in Madrid using electric bicycles able to carry up to 100 kilos. According to the company, the deliveries made by two of its bicycles were equivalent to those of one combustion van.

Zunpower and Kaccelerator: a vehicle brand and an impact fund

  • Zunpower: was KorGo's “own brand” of vehicles, offering its partners the chance to renew their fleets with “eBikes, eTricycles, cargo eMotos” at lower prices (KorGo website).
  • Kaccelerator: presents itself as an impact investment fund (its website); its logo appears on one of the two green cargo boxes.

A tricycle with a solar roof and Zunpower's three-wheeled vehicle

Recumbent tricycle with a roof of solar panels and a 3D rendering of the Zunpower solar vehicle
On the left, a recumbent tricycle with a roof of solar panels; on the right, a 3D rendering of a three-wheeled Zunpower solar vehicle. Image: project archive

Alongside the delivery vehicles, the project archive holds two images of three-wheeled solar vehicles: a recumbent tricycle with a roof of solar panels and a 3D rendering of a Zunpower vehicle.

  • The tricycle: recumbent, with orange sides and a roof of solar panels covering the driver.
  • The Zunpower vehicle: faired, yellow, with a solar panel on the roof and the brand on the front; the image is a 3D rendering.
  • The #StreetFighter: Zunpower's website, archived in 2021, advertised it for a shared solar mobility service yet to launch, with two solar panels, a rechargeable lithium battery and an electric motor (zunpowertech.com).
  • No licence or number plate: according to that website, it was classified in the EU as an electrically power-assisted cycle (EPAC) and was 90 cm wide, to fit in a cycle lane.
Vídeo: Zunpower's First Step
“Zunpower's First Step”: Zunpower tells the story of its beginnings and how it created the #StreetFighter, its solar tricycle. Video: Zunpower Technologies (YouTube, 9 March 2020)

After the tricycles: solar car, Aeromóvil and solar boat in the Mobility area

The lab's Mobility area later added three more projects: