IIIT-H develops compact charging station for e-bikes

Dr. Aftab Hussain, who heads the Processes, Architecture and Technologies Research in IoT (PATRIoT) division at IIIT-H and his team has designed a complete end-to-end charging solution

Hyderabad: IIIT-H developed an e-bike charging solution that allows users to charge the bikes at different charging stations offered by various service providers, and not be restricted to just the ones offered by bike vendors.

“We are seeing an uptake in powerful charging systems for EVs, mostly cars, in Hyderabad. But a similar infrastructure for two-wheelers is yet to catch up,” said Dr. Aftab Hussain, who heads the Processes, Architecture and Technologies Research in IoT (PATRIoT) division at IIIT-H.

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The lack of standardized charging points for e-bikes, in particular, is going to be a problem in the future. “The problem with e-scooters is that they can’t be charged just about anywhere. The existing charging systems are specifically tailored for each make of such vehicles. Users are typically tied to charging their e-bikes at home. This is inconvenient,” said Hussain. While the EV numbers reveal an upward shift, large-scale adoption of EVs is hitting roadblocks due to the lack of robust charging infrastructure, he said.

With residential housing societies yet to ramp up their parking lot infrastructure with charging points, e-scooter users now need to unplug the scooter battery, physically carry it home, charge it and reconnect it before the next ride, making the riding complex. Hussain and his team of researchers have proposed a unique design and fabrication of charging equipment, specifically for e-scooters. The users have to swipe an RFID card that authenticates the identity before they enter the amount for which charging has to be done. It also has a feature to cut the supply in case it goes beyond a threshold or in case of hardware faults.

Deeksha Devendra, the lead author of the paper, said the compact nature of the charger makes it possible to deploy it in densely populated urban centers. “Current EV charger designs are bulky, requiring land usage rights, whereas this device can be mounted on a street lamp”, she said. “The charging stations will not be vendor-specific as they are based on the Open Charge Point Protocol, which is widely accepted. It will also allow users to charge two-wheelers at various charging stations irrespective of the vehicle manufacturer,” she said.

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