What is the smallest, lightest vehicle that can still carry three people through a city, with a roof over their heads? The Swedish company Clean Motion from Lerum near Gothenburg answered with the Zbee, an electric three-wheeler presented in 2012.
The Zbee is only 240 cm long, 120 cm wide and 150 cm high and weighs just 230 kg. A 4 kW electric motor gives it a top speed of 50 km/h and a range of about 45 km per charge; a full recharge takes about three hours. It comes either with a rear seat for two passengers or with a cargo box, and is designed for taxis, deliveries and short trips. The body uses lightweight fibre-reinforced plastic panels glued to the frame.
The interesting part for us is the solar roof. In a test, solar cells were integrated into the Zbee’s composite roof. In Swedish conditions the sun added about 5 km per day, roughly a 10% increase in range. Clean Motion pointed out that further south, with more PV area and optimised electronics, some users would barely need to plug in at all. The company quotes an energy use of 0 to 4 kWh per 100 km, where zero means everything came from the sun.
Zbees have run as taxis and delivery vehicles in Sweden and other countries, including Indonesia. Clean Motion later moved the solar idea into its EVIG / Re:volt delivery vehicle with about 600 W of solar cells on the roof. Light, slow and efficient is a winning formula, as other light vehicles on our site show: the ELF velomobile, the Squad Solar City Car and the ARI 458 Solar micro-van.
Technical data
| Builder | Clean Motion AB, Lerum / Trollhättan (Sweden) |
|---|---|
| Presented | 2012 |
| Size | 240 × 120 × 150 cm |
| Weight | 230 kg |
| Motor | 4 kW electric |
| Speed / range | 50 km/h, ~45 km per charge, ~3 h recharge |
| Solar | Test with cells integrated in the composite roof: +5 km/day (~10%) in Sweden |
| Seats | Driver + 2 passengers, or cargo box |
Photos
- Top photo: Clean Motion AB / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- The Zbee at the Hannover Messe 2017. Photo: Frank Schwichtenberg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A Zbee in service in Indonesia. Photo: Clean Motion AB / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sources
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