British designer Paul Smith created an energy triple play with Navitas, a bike trailer design concept that generates power three ways. You charge up its onboard 24-volt battery as you tow it behind a bicycle. When you reach your overnight destination, use its quick release mechanism to detach the trailer from the bicycle, and then you convert the trailer’s wheel into a wind turbine that also collects solar energy with its small photovoltaic array.
When you’re settling in for the night, plug in all your devices to its electrical outlet that resembles a car’s cigarette lighter, and you can also hook stuff up to its USB port. At the same time, if it’s a sunny or windy day, the trailer is still generating energy to charge up its battery. Made of recyclable materials, let’s hope this contraption is light enough so that it won’t be too much of a burden on its rider.
Navitas bicycle trailer/generator concept [Bicycle Design]
