2024-02-11 10:30:02
Timéo, 18, and his brother Lou, 16, assembled a solar bike in Besançon (Doubs) in three days. The machine should help them pursue all the solidarity and ecological projects of their junior association. They also want to soon offer walks to elderly and disabled people in Orchamps (Jura).
At first glance, it looks like a giant puzzle. “It’s like a big Lego”, they correct. Timéo, 18, and his brother Lou, 16, are busy around the metal skeleton. On the table, an assembly instruction and neatly arranged next to it, all the parts that will allow them to make their strange contraption.
For three days in Besançon (Doubs), the two brothers set up this curious Vhéliocontraction of the words “bike” and “hélios” (the sun in Greek), a solar bike to assemble in self-construction. “During a trip to Limousin for our own association, my brother and I had already thought that it would be interesting to have an autonomous bike that works with solar panelssays Timéo. And then we discovered this concept on the internet. We immediately joined the project and the association that goes with it.”
More than 20 Vhéliotechs are already in circulation in France. This three-wheeled solar bike was designed by the association Solar Bike for All, based in Loiret near Orléans. These volunteers have chosen to distribute the plans of their invention free of charge to make them accessible to everyone. Between the cargo bike and the electric car, this solar-powered three-wheeler has the capacity of a small car and can transport several passengers and luggage, up to 200 kg of payload in total.
“Our goal was to ensure that a 14-year-old would be able to assemble it alone.”explained Grégory Barrier, this engineer who invented the Vhélio during confinement and who founded the Vélo pour tous association, to the newspaper The Parisian in April 2023.
“It’s accessible to everyone.confirms Timéo. The plans are very well made and just assemble. You don’t need to be a mechanic or a great handyman to do it!” It was the young man who put forward the 7,500 euros necessary to purchase the kit bike. But he received a grant from the Burgundy-Franche-Comté Region which will cover 30% of the financing. The Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA) of Doubs also gave a boost of 200 euros. And the small team must submit its file for additional aid to CAF du Doubs on February 22.
The Vhélio was assembled in three days at the Espace Simone de Beauvoir in Besançon (Doubs). • © Emmanuel Deshayes – France televisions
The duo is not his first attempt. Since they were children, they have been bubbling with ideas and cultivating their ecological fiber. At the age of eight, Timéo had already become involved in the urban agriculture citizen movement in Besançon, “Les incrediblesEdibles”, which consisted of inviting residents to plant vegetables throughout the city.
In 2016, it was for Lou, suffering from cancer from which he has since recovered, that he decided to create a Junior association called “Elephant Dream”. His little brother wants to contribute to the reintroduction of elephants into their natural environment in Laos and Thailand. Then the two brothers imagined a garden of autonomy in Boussières (Doubs). They will soon grow another in Orchamps (Jura), a pilot garden for food self-sufficiency, installed on a plot of 6,000 m2. In partnership with National Education, Timéo will also host gardening workshops in a few weeks for the students of the food school of the Jura commune.
We have a thirst for discovery. We like to do things by ourselves and above all give to others. We would like to share our experiences and show that we can be completely independent, in terms of food, energy and mobility.
Timéo Le Breton, 18 years old.
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“The Vhélio will help us in all our activitiesexplains Timéo. And for all the projects to come!’ Because budding inventors hope to soon be able to assemble two more solar bikes. They would like to be able to organize litter collections and walks for residents. “We would like to take for a walk all those who can no longer move around, the elderly or the disabled”, confides Timéo. Offer them a ray of sunshine in some way.
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