Picture: Mokwheel
Mokwheel, a Canadian company that has been around since 2014 first started out producing electric scooters. However, the company’s founder, Denny L., now wants to push the capabilities of the ebike by creating the Basalt, an electric motorcycle with its own power station.
Technology surrounding batteries has indeed advanced leaps and bounds in the last few years. Nowadays, it’s possible to fully charge an EV battery in under one hour and other ventures are now considering solar panels as a source of power.
The Mokwheel Basalt, holds a large 960-watt-hour battery pack, and in order to charge it up using the solar power generator, it makes use of a specially developed inverter. T
The inverter is also needed to charge up your devices such as your smartphone, action camera, and other gadgets. As for charging the bike itself, the kit comes with a set of large solar panels that can be set up virtually anywhere, which means that you won’t have to worry about setting up your camp in an area with constant power supply.
The Basalt holds a 750W rear hub mounted motor that’s claimed to have a torque output of upwards of 90 Nm. In the brand’s promo video, Mokwheel claims that the Basalt can effortlessly climb hills of up to a 20-degree gradient.
This, therefore, allows casual cyclists who otherwise wouldn’t have the physical capabilities of exploring trails and backroads to even more adventure. However, Basalt is not the lightest on the market, and weighs at 36 kilograms.
The Basalt alone retails for $2,000 USD, with the inverter costing an additional $400, and the solar panels yet another $600. As such, the total bill for this go-anywhere, self-sustaining electric bicycle is just $3,000 USD which is relatively cheap for an e-bike of this calibre.
