Exploring Self-Charging Travel

Introduction

 

In an emerging world of solar-powered innovation, this article explores how thin, flexible solar films can be applied to micromobility vehicles—transforming them into self-charging systems and, potentially, catalysts for more efficient and accessible travel.

Flexible photovoltaics are moving beyond rooftops and satellites. These materials are beginning to wrap around drones, boats, and bikes, generating power as they move. Picture a motorcycle draped in a solar skin—charging itself while weaving through traffic or gliding along the coast.

Globally, there are more than 700 million motorized two- and three-wheelers in use, many of them concentrated in rapidly growing cities across Asia and Africa (McKinsey & Company, 2022). And micromobility now accounts for approximately 16% of all global trips—a number expected to increase as urban centers shift toward smaller, more sustainable forms of transport (Futurice, 2022; McKinsey & Company, 2022).

In places like Vietnam, motorcycles make up 79% of daily trips, and 87% of households own at least one (Nguyen & Pojani, 2021). In India, two-wheelers outnumber cars by more than five to one (Transport Corporation of India, 2021). And in the Philippines, motorcycles and tricycles represent 60% of all registered vehicles, compared to just 16% for cars (Asian Development Bank, 2020). In regions where power is inconsistent and fuel costs are rising, a vehicle that can generate its own energy—off-grid, on the go—is more than clever. It’s necessary.

Beyond the global south, the shared realities of urban congestion, energy strain, and environmental pressures are growing issues worldwide. In cities across the globe, micromobility is becoming a universal answer—compact, flexible, and increasingly self-sustaining (World Economic Forum, 2022; Deloitte, 2020). As solar materials get stronger and more adaptable, the vehicle itself could become the power source.

The idea that your vehicle could generate its own energy—without stopping, without plugging in—is a radical shift, especially in places where fuel is expensive and power grids are unreliable. But even beyond those contexts, as cities everywhere grapple with pollution, grid strain, and congestion, smaller self-powered vehicles aren’t just a good idea—they’re inevitable.

 

Real-World Examples and Material Breakthroughs

 

In 2024, Nairobi-based Roam Air successfully kept an electric motorcycle on the road during a 6,000-kilometer journey across East and Southern Africa.  Each battery swap allowed the vehicle to cross 113 kilometers (Kuhudzai, 2024; Oyekunle, 2024).  This demonstrates how micromobility is holding its own across long distances and varied terrain.

Conversations are now shifting away from infrastructure like battery swaps towards material science innovations. Globally, researchers are experimenting with solar skins—thin, flexible photovoltaic films that can be laminated directly onto the surfaces of vehicles.

The three leading solar skin technologies being explored are: Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs), Perovskites, and CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium Selenide). They are bendable, lightweight, and can wrap around curved forms like bike frames, drone wings, or boat decks (Oluwalana & Grzesik, 2025).

Cornell University’s HelioSkin project has been working on developing adaptive solar films that can mold to complex 3D surfaces—a leap forward in design compatibility. Likewise,  MIT’s ultrathin solar cells, developed on polymer substrates, can now be laminated onto fabric, drones, or even paper—and generate 18 times more power per kilogram than conventional silicon panels (MIT News, 2022).  In Switzerland, the startup Flisom AG is already manufacturing CIGS solar foils using roll-to-roll techniques. These ultra-thin films are efficient (up to 20.4%) and are ready for integration into mobile surfaces (Flisom, 2017).

In the lab, perovskite modules are showing durability under stress, maintaining performance after thousands of bending cycles and reaching efficiencies close to 30% in tandem solar cell configurations (Dong et al., 2024; Sun et al., 2025).

 

Diving into the Emerging Tech and Challenges Ahead

 

Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs)

OPVs are made from printable carbon-based materials. They are lightweight, flexible, and inexpensive to produce. These properties make them  ideal for curved surfaces such as scooter fairings or helmets. At the moment, they are also less efficient (typically under 12%) and degrade faster than other options, especially in heat and humidity (Zhao et al., 2024). Still, they are useful in wearables, accessories, and low-power applications.

 

Perovskite Solar Cells

Perovskites offer high efficiency, light weight, and tunable transparency. They are bendable, semi-transparent, and have hit over 25–29% efficiency in the lab, although long-term stability is still under review (Zhou et al., 2024; ScienceDirect, 2024).  Much like OPVs, most degrade quickly with moisture, and mass production has not been streamlined. Continued research at Cornell and Tokyo City University is making more durable, flexible material variants (Zhou et al., 2024; Sun et al., 2025).

 

CIGS Thin-Film (Copper Indium Gallium Selenide)

CIGS solar technology is more readily being manufactured. The Swiss company Flisom is producing ultra-light foils with approximately 20.4% efficiency that could be applied to actual vehicle shells. CIGS are more stable than OPV and more ready-to-scale than perovskite. The downsides are that they are relatively expensive and have limited transparency, making it less ideal for things like windshields or sails (Flisom, 2017; Springer, 2024).

 

As these technologies continue to be developed and perfected, these films will be better able to withstand rain, sun, dust, bending, vibration, and time.  At the moment, many degrade under UV exposure, or lose efficiency with repeated use. The ability to still store energy after the sun sets is another open question. Therefore, while lab breakthroughs are exciting, scaling to market is slow, especially for fragile materials like perovskite (Zhou et al., 2024). However, with increased investment and interdisciplinary R&D, these barriers are rapidly shrinking.

 

Conclusion

 

These innovations punctuate some of the most promising moves in technological development today—not just in solar research, but in rethinking how we design movement itself.  As solar skins continue to evolve from lab prototypes to deployable tech, they could shift the very foundation of mobility: from plugged-in to autonomous, and from reactive to regenerative.

If even a portion of the world’s two- and three-wheelers adopt solar augmentation, the ripple effects—on fuel cost, emissions, and energy equity—could be massive  (IEA, 2023; MIT News, 2022).

 

References

 

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Deloitte. (2020). Micromobility: Moving cities into a sustainable future. https://www2.deloitte.com

Dong, Q., Zhao, Y., & Wang, Z. (2024). High-performance flexible perovskite solar cells with enhanced mechanical durability. Advanced Materials Research, 1214, 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advmat.2024.02.008

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MIT News. (2022, December 13). Ultrathin solar cells can turn any surface into a power source. https://news.mit.edu/2022/ultrathin-solar-cells-1213

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Sun, J., Zhou, W., & Nakagawa, T. (2025). Flexible tandem perovskite cells with improved moisture resistance. Nature Energy, 10(3), 415–422. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01387-0

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