Charging Stack Podcast: Turning Sidewalks into Solar Charging Hubs with Solum

Charging bikes with the floor sounds like a gimmick… until you see Solum’s Helios dock sitting in the middle of a plaza, charging a whole row of scooters without a single cable in sight.

In this episode of Charging Stack, we talk with Luis Muñoz Lombardo, Co-Founder & CBO at Solum, about turning sidewalks into solar infrastructure, fixing messy parking, and giving cities a way to power micromobility without digging up streets.

Who this episode is for:

• City mobility teams trying to tidy up scooters and bikes without killing the mode
• Shared micromobility operators looking for reliable, low-OPEX charging
• Universities, workplaces, and real-estate owners who want clean parking without cable chaos
• Solar and energy folks curious how PV can live in pavements, not just on roofs
• Anyone building LEV infrastructure who needs both hardware and data to justify the spend

In this episode, you’ll learn:

⚡ How Solum’s Helios stations generate power from solar pavement and store it in onboard batteries
⚡ Why parking and charging for scooters and e-bikes has become such a headache for cities and operators
⚡ How Solum installs a full station in a few hours, without trenching or touching the grid
⚡ What the miSolum platform tracks in real time: usage, energy production, CO₂ savings, and asset performance
⚡ Where Solum is rolling out first in Europe, and why North and South America are on the radar next

Topics covered include

• The founder story: three friends from the renewables sector leaving their jobs to start Solum in 2019
• Why Spanish cities became an early testbed: high scooter usage, good weather, and crowded sidewalks
• How Helios works as a product: solar pavement, integrated batteries, docking rails, smart electronics
• What “standalone” really means in practice: no civil works, no trenching, no grid connection needed
• Typical installation flow: two technicians, a van, one working day, and the station goes live
• Where Helios fits: universities, offices, shopping centres, real-estate developments, municipalities
• Solar performance in the real world: daily kWh output, how many scooters/e-bikes that can cover, and what happens on cloudy days
• How the station prioritises availability: topping up more vehicles with partial charges instead of chasing 100% every time
• Grid-connected Helios G: when indoor or underground locations make more sense for wired charging
• Why design and aesthetics matter for solar in cities, especially in historic or sensitive locations
• How Solum’s PV pavement is engineered: weight resistance, people walking over it, cars and vans driving and parking on it
• Shading and partial coverage: how the system keeps generating even when parts of the surface are blocked
• miSolum software: dashboards for usage, energy, CO₂ savings, and alerts when something goes wrong
• Why data is key for customers chasing LEED/BREEAM scores and asset value in real estate
• The business case for buildings: using clean mobility and on-site solar to make properties more attractive and valuable
• The hardest part of selling something new: convincing cities and landlords that “floor solar” is real and reliable
• How Solum partners with local installers to scale across more than 10 European countries
• Connectors and compatibility: dealing with a chaotic mix of scooter and e-bike plugs while waiting for proper standards
• Where Luis sees big untapped potential: residential parking, office basements, and large private campuses
• Medium-term roadmap: more colours and finishes for PV pavement, better fit with historic districts, and early ideas for solar car parking

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