I don't quite follow their mileage figures.
They specify a speed of 15 kph (say 9mph) which probably requires 100w, thus a 145 WHr battery should give 1.5 hours usage, or about 23 KM in 1.5 hours (at 15 kph). Which is not 57 Km.
Unless they are actually only using 40w - however, noone is going to use an e-bike at a speed of 15 kph - this is slower than any normal cyclist would go.

People are much more likely to go at 15 mph (24 kph) which is the limit of their electric boost power.

Also, I am not entirely sure of the benefit of solar charging - by all means put up solar panels, but just use them to offset normal power usage or feed it into the grid.

If you are in a very isolated place, it would make sense, or of the cost of laying a power cable was very high, maybe, else you would be better just making sure they are pointing south and separate the charging and the solar panels.

Unless you are doing it as a minor advertising stunt to prove how "green" you are.

[ IMHO, if you really want to be green, send the panels to the 3rd world where they can use them to generate electricity in seriously isolated places and claim an offset for your trouble. You could put a sticker on the bike park to say how good you are. ]

Absolutely first rate thumbs up for Sanyo. They make the PV so this is a perfect match for their technology. If they were to package the whole system and direct-sell at discount - they have a winner. Especially in sunbelt nations. They might think about doing this on a larger scale for the first EVs. A business in Arizona or Southern Cal would be good place to start.

Only one question, in non sunbelt areas, like Pacific NW or Canada, with prolonged bad weather - what happens?

Form ove substance. - "Unless you are doing it as a minor advertising stunt to prove how "green" you are."

Ah yes, I remember this and I remember thinking: 'If there is enough sun for heating why don't they use the sun for electricity too.' The District Heating System of Drake Landing had to be put into place before the houses were built because it's a complete system, so they installed the collectors on the roofs of the garages which could be built before the houses were.

What this means is that the roofs of the houses themselves are free for the installation of PV systems because PV systems are more flexible.

The borehole thermal storage used at Drake's Landing works well en masse, but not for individual homes. I modeled this myself, as I thought I might give it a try. However, the dissipation losses are simply too great, even with a 4x4 grid (which itself is too expensive). The 'dense pack' grid used at DL means there is roughly 50% losses at the periphery, but the center acts as the main thermal store.

For fun, try it yourself using Earth Energy Designer.

"New thin film cells can be made on transparent materials that transmit the infrared to solar thermal collectors while converting the shorter wave lengths to electricity."

SJC, do you have a link for this? I am convinced there is a large business sector to come from PV film applied to various building materials.

http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=806
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_thermal_hybrid_solar_collector
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hybrid-solar-panels

Thanks for the links ai_vin.

Silicon solar cells can to the same thing. There have been bifacial designs that use reflected light to convert on both sides of the cells. If the sintered layer is left off the back the cell passes IR wavelengths nicely. This has been known for decades.

Yes, you can use "cold mirrors" which are a form of selective beam splitter on concentrated solar troughs and dishes. That way you can harness photoelectric and solar thermal at the same time.