E-bike Charging Research Articles

Optimization Strategy for the Spatiotemporal Layout of E-Bike Charging Piles from the Perspective of Sustainable Campus Planning: A Case Study of Zijingang Campus of Zhejiang University

With the expansion of Chinese university campuses, electric bikes (E-bikes) have become the most sustainable and effective commuting option because they are a flexible and energy-saving travel mode. Consequently, campus E-bike charging piles have become one of the most essential public service facilities on campuses. However, since most Chinese campuses are closed and independent, the principles of urban public service facilities cannot be simply applied to the layout and use of campus charging facilities. Thus, this study focuses on Zijingang Campus at Zhejiang University, and proposes an optimization strategy for the spatial and temporal layout of E-bike charging piles on the campus. First, trip chain demand models are constructed to examine the travel patterns of E-bike users on campus and the demands for charging areas and time. Second, a space location model is constructed to locate the charging piles in areas with high demand. Finally, according to the charging times of different users, user charging time is integrated into the strategy. This study enhances the layout and utilization system of campus E-bike charging facilities by considering both temporal and spatial dimensions. Overall, this study contributes to the advancement of sustainable transportation infrastructure planning on a campus-wide scale, offering theoretical insights for the design and utilization of functional facilities in large-scale, semi-enclosed environments (e.g., university campuses).

Hybrid Wind/PV E-Bike Charging Station: Comparison of Onshore and Offshore Systems

The concept behind this research article is advancement towards utilizing renewable energy sources of wind–solar to generate electrical energy for E-bike (electric bike) charging stations. To optimize the design and operation control of the wind–solar E-bike charging station system, the development of modelling this hybrid power generation system, consisting of solar and wind energy combined with battery storage, is proposed and will be studied in this paper. A university campus setting is utilized for the case study by comparing offshore (Huangdao) and onshore (Laoshan) sites. The proposed research will focus on annual energy production (AEP) and system cost analysis. The proposed work’s main objectives are to analyze the wind/solar properties of the installation’s location using the last 20 years’ data, calculate the AEP for wind turbines and solar PV, and estimate how many E-bikes can be charged day/year with reliable operation. We have calculated that the hybrid power available is 27.08 kWh/day offshore and 22 kWh/day onshore. This research study concludes that on average, based on AEP, in the case of offshore, 5110 E-bikes can be charged per year and in the case of onshore, 4015 E-bikes can be charged per year. We have also calculated the COE (cost of energy) for 20 years for the proposed project, which is $0.62/kWh onshore and $0.46/kWh offshore.

E-Bike Charging Infrastructure in the Workplace—Should Employers Provide It?

Constructing charging infrastructure for e-bikes at home or in other locations is necessary to enable motor support while riding. This paper focuses on charging facilities at work and study locations. It analyzes the charging frequency preference of 281 e-bike commuters who work or study at RWTH Aachen University, using survey data with 1091 choices for hypothetical free charging, as well as the same conditions for hypothetical paid charging. We use a mixed logit model to estimate the factors influencing the charging frequency, focusing on the commuting distance, an e-bike’s resale value, the age of the owner, student status, and employment group. One charging event per day can be expected for four e-bike commuters when free charging is available. In the case of paid charging, there is one charging event per 12 e-bike users. The magnitude of the reduction caused by a charging fee depends on group membership and, probably, on income. Commuting distance only has a statistically significant influence on the charging frequency when charging is free, raising the question of whether charging at work is necessary to cover trip chains that include stops at work. Owners of more expensive e-bikes charge less often, likely due to higher battery capacities, while the influence of age is inconclusive. However, providing charging infrastructure for employees and guests could be used as a low-cost measure to promote cycling among commuters.

SingMonitor: E-bike Charging Health Monitoring Using Sound from Power Supplies

In recent years, fire disasters caused by charging electric bicycles/moped (e-bikes) have been increasing, causing catastrophic loss of life and property; Worse still, existing fire warning systems are costly to install and maintain, and they work after the accident occurs. Some existing works propose using power meters or similar sensors in the power grid to monitor e-bike charging health. However, the use of additional equipment makes them challenging to deploy. Others can use the sound or electromagnetic signals emitted by e-bikes for monitoring, but they suffer from limited monitoring distance. To solve this problem, we propose SingMonitor, a scheme to remotely monitor e-bike charging status using mobile devices’ microphones. The charging e-bike generates a unique current signal, which is then transmitted through the power grid and drives the mobile devices’ power supply to generate sound, which is then captured by a microphone. Based on this principle and the proposed template matching method, SingMonitor can identify the e-bike charging status. Experiments show SingMonitor achieves an F1 score of 0.94 in identifying 10 e-bikes’ charging status, with a detection distance of 9m+.

Automatic control and dispatching of charging currents to a charging station for power-assisted bikes

This work deals with the automatic dispatching of the charging currents in a charging station for power-assisted bikes (ebike). The decision variables such as arduousness index and urgency are determined. The arduousness index is carried out from the GPS ride data. Urgency is calculated using the parking time and ebike batteries state of charge. They are used to determine ebike's charging priorities at the charging station using continue fuzzy logic. Photovoltaic power forecasting is determined over the control horizon using the artificial neural network. On the one hand, the values of the priority, the photovoltaic power forecasting and the storage battery's state of charge are calculated. They allow to control the states of the switches associated with each charging spot and the operating mode of the storage battery (source or load) using discrete fuzzy logic. On the other hand, the interest of the ride's arduousness for a charging station is presented. A comparative study between the charging method integrating the ride arduousness and not is carried out. A case study of the polytech Annecy campus at the University of Savoie Mont Blanc in France is proposed. Results show that: the arduousness index is essential for controlling the charging priority of ebikes at the charging station; Fuzzy logic allows to manage the current dispatching on a charging station; taking into account the ride's arduousness allows to save up to 413.03 (Wh) of profit and 97.90% energy flexibility on the charging station.

A Cuk Converter and Resonant LLC Converter Based E-Bike Charger for Wide Output Voltage Variations

In this article, an e-bike charging solution for two wheelers, is presented. This e-bike charger is realized by a Cuk converter followed by a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LLC</i> resonant converter with an improved power quality (PQ) input current indices. The pulsewidth modulated Cuk converter is operated in discontinuous conduction mode of its output side inductor, which leads to a voltage follower approach for input current shaping. Thus, the control loop is greatly simplified as it consists of a single voltage loop. The e-bike battery charging algorithm is implemented in variable frequency controlled HB <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LLC</i> resonant converter followed by a diode rectification at its output stage. Furthermore, a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{550}\;\text{W}$</tex-math></inline-formula> , constant current/constant voltage charger with a maximum current rating of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{10}\;\text{A}$</tex-math></inline-formula> is developed to charge a <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$20AH$</tex-math></inline-formula> e-bike battery. A variable dc link reference voltage estimator is presented, which varies the dc link voltage and extends the output voltage range for charging e-bike battery of varying voltage rating from 42– <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{80}\;\text{V}$</tex-math></inline-formula> . Moreover, a resonant frequency optimizer loop is also proposed, which reduces the turn-off losses during charging a deeply discharged battery. The behavior of this charger is exhaustively analyzed under steady state and transient conditions and the PQ at the input, is found to comply the international standard of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$IEC-61\,000-3-2$</tex-math></inline-formula> .

Towards the development of a hotel-based e-bike rental service: Results from a stated preference survey and techno-economic analysis

Holiday cycling refers to the occasional use of bicycle during holidays as an alternative mode of transportation for exploring a destination, comprising a promising line of business for rental services of both conventional and electric bicycles (e-bikes), not only in countries with well-established cycling culture, but also in other tourist destinations. This paper advances the notion that a hotel-based e-bike rental service significantly contributes to the guests’ perception on the environmental quality and friendliness of the hotel, particularly if the e-bikes are powered by renewable energy sources, as a tourism product offering in the context of sustainable mobility. To that end, the present work employs a stated preference survey among hotel guests in the city of Mons, Belgium, to capture and analyze the user profile characteristics and preferences. Based on the survey results, it simulates two alternative implementations of the e-bike charging station with a well-established energy systems analysis tool and evaluates the techno-economic feasibility of the proposed service under different usage and pricing scenarios. The findings of this work show that all scenarios lead to positive internal rate of return and return on investment, rendering the proposed e-bike rental service a promising business venture.

Design of a Microgrid Architecture for Rental E-Bike Charging Stations

This paper focuses on developing a sustainable charging station for public motorbike rental services. Electric motorbikes or electric bicycles (both referred to as E-bike) are compact electric vehicles which are primarily battery powered and driven solely by electric motors. The work proposes a microgrid architecture to develop a novel model for the rental E-bike charging station that acts as a charger for multiple nodes simultaneously as well as acting as a docking/parking station for these vehicles. The model has been built to propose a system which increases the energy savings to rental companies while reducing reliance on public grid during peak hours. The use of distributed generation makes the system more resistant to failure while moving towards a future of eco-friendly and power efficient technology.

Sustainable E-Bike Charging Station That Enables AC, DC and Wireless Charging from Solar Energy

If electric vehicles have to be truly sustainable, it is essential to charge them from sustainable sources of electricity, such as solar or wind energy. In this paper, the design of solar powered e-bike charging station that provides AC, DC and wireless charging of e-bikes is investigated. The charging station has integrated battery storage that enables for both grid-connected and off-grid operation. The DC charging uses the DC power from the photovoltaic panels directly for charging the e-bike battery without the use of an AC charging adapter. For the wireless charging, the e-bike can be charged through inductive power transfer via the bike kickstand (receiver) and a specially designed tile (transmitter) at the charging station, which provides maximum convenience to the user.

Controller Design and Experimental Validation of a Solar Powered E-bike Charging Station

Electric Vehicles (EV) have gained interest over the past decade. Because of this, to support EV technology installation of charging stations are required. Charging EVs from renewable energy provides a sustainable means of transport. E-bikes can help mitigate some mobility problems, particularly in large cities and metropolitan areas. This paper shows the development and implementation of a solar e-bike charging station with photovoltaic production, with energy storage system. The implemented system has a centralized control and allow an efficient management of the various resources and contemplates the possibility of four simultaneous e- bikes where user identification is performed by RFID. Finally, it is provided a user interface through an HMI panel and a web page where it will be possible to access the DataLog to consult the user activity and all charging parameters.&#x0D; Keywords: Renewable energy, Solar charging station, Programmable logic controller&#x0D;

Resonant inductive power transfer for an E-bike charging station

This paper presents the design and the experimental tests of an E-bike 300-W battery charger for a cyclo-station based on wireless power technology. In particular, a series resonant inductive power converter with an E-geometry magnetic core topology is proposed. A mathematical model is developed and a performance analysis is conducted to determine the voltage transfer function, maximum power transfer capability, efficiency for different air-gaps (1–3cm), and misalignments (0.5–1.5cm). Also, it is performed analytical and experimental investigations of the minimum and maximum relative frequency points of active input power and efficiency in order to determine how these points changed as the resistance load varied. The results of the analyses indicated that the maximum frequency points of active input power are different from the maximum frequency points of efficiency and the zero-frequency points of reactive input power. This means that maximum power transfer and efficiency conversion are not obtained in correspondence with the resonant frequency. For this purpose, it is conducted a wide frequency characterization of 30–50kHz around the designed resonant frequency of 40kHz. An iterative electrical and magnetic design procedure is proposed based on 3D finite element analysis. Simulation and experimental results are presented for a full-sized prototype. The design of the E-bike battery charger is validated in terms of rated input voltage and output power for different air-gap configurations.