[rahimnathwani]

Unless you're off the grid, is there any use case for the solar panel you linked?

It costs $90, not including the protection circuitry.

Even if you pay a lot for electricity (e.g. $0.35 per kWh, like in PG&E service regions), you'd need to be drawing 100W for 7 hours per day, for 365 days, before you break even.

I guess realistically you're more likely to break even after 2 years? Do these small panels 'wear out' over time, or will they work for several years?

[bluGill]

With the range of cargo ebikes it isn't hard to get off grid. Riding a century - 100 miles (200km) - is regular achievement for normal bikes - not e-bikes. Most ebikes only have a range of 40 miles, so just the ability to get 50 miles by charging while riding can be useful. If you go camping, solar puts a campground that if more than 20 miles from you in range: so long as you can recharge while at the campground for a few days you can get back home again.

Note that none of the above is about saving money. Other than indirectly because it lets you use a bike for trips that otherwise would require a car, and cars cost a lot more money to own. The above are also uses that I have for an ebike (I don't have one, but those are potential uses making me interested in one), and solar would help make it work out.

[_aavaa_]

Aren't those last 50km going to much more difficult since you're not having to carry the extra weight, and the extra resistance of the electric motor?

[bluGill]

Taking an ebike farther than the batteries range should be considered impossible. While it is possible to ride on a dead battery, the effort isn't worth it. Thus a regular bike has more range than an ebike.

[Tade0]

Ultimately it's a semiconductor, so it's affected by the same aging processes that transistors and LEDs undergo. Actually, LEDs and solar cells are physically the same component, just designed for opposite use cases - much like motors and generators.

You can reasonably expect it to lose less than 1% of original efficiency a year, so they should last decades.

[lnsru]

I doubt there are many silicon based LEDs. So the both might be made from silicon, but they are definitely not the same component.

[jack_pp]

Well if you break even even in 2 years that's still a great investment, beats most other investments out there and there is very little risk

[foxyv]

E-Bike touring would be an excellent use case for this. A lot of people would love to bike tour but don't have the physical ability. I have a friend who was touring on an E-Bike because it made hauling more stuff easier and he would just recharge at each stop. A solar panel would have made a huge difference.

[sweetjuly]

Solar panels don't really wear out like that. It's possible that severe hail may damage these flexible, less well protected cells but you can easily expect well over a decade out of them. Most residential systems are rated for 25-30 years but can realistically last longer.

[adrianN]

Most residential systems have a warranty for 25 years. The manufacturer guarantees that there is no significant degradation for that time. That probably means that they last a lot longer than that.

[dsfyu404ed]

Or it means they enter the steep part of the bathtub curve at 26yr

[themitigating]

Wouldn't it be smarter to have a warranty period end further from a significant increase in the probability of failure?