Solar power and hiking research

Innovation in solar panels on backpacks is not really taking off just yet

Text and drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt

Today I’ve been looking at a lot of different backpacks, all claiming to be able to catch the sun on power panels as the hikers move along the trails, powering smartphones and other gadgets

I wanted to see how many different kinds of solutions the backpack designers around the world had come up with, so far it seems to me like it is… one kind. The idea on all the different brands and products I’ve found today all have a simple solar panel attached to the back – Just wanted to see something else, so I used the design from a turtle shell as inspiration and sketched up a turtle solar power panel backpack: