Charging station for student e-bikes and scooters

E-Mobility Solar Microgrid

Our team of 5 worked on developing a solar powered e-mobility charging station that provides user notification via a phone and desktop application. There were multiple components in the project, and I was working primarily on the UX design of our mobile app and developing the simulation of our design at a large scale.

The goal

This was the final project for my bachelor's degree. Our product was a solar powered charger, designed for electric scooters and e-bikes. We created a prototype that was capable of charging one bike at a time. To model how the system would behave at a larger scale, we created a simulation with Simulink that was interconnected to the US national grid.

The User Interface

Our design included an app that would allow the user to connect to the e-bike or scooter charging station, we wanted to use a format the felt familiar to the user, enhancing the UX. We decided to follow a procedure similar to the Blue Bikes App in the United States to unlock a bike.

The Simulation

The simulation was performed using Simulink and Simscape electrical toolbox. The model shows the main subsystems, simulates Boston irradiance data for the panels, and includes an additional interconnection with the national grid. The system aims to model a scaled up version of our design, capable of a larger load that supports up to ten E-bikes, sourcing a solar farm array and large battery storage, and employing a bidirectional, grid-connected inverter designed that complies with national grid standards regarding voltage and frequency thresholds.

Note: This is a simplified block diagram of the simulation.

The Team

Ezekiel Gunninson, Ali Hussein, Professor Masoud Salehi, Michael Montanaro, Alex Zabib, Grady Kirsch