Autonomous
The aim of Autonomous is to develop a trailer that can be attached to any e-bike, pedelecs (from pedaled electric cycle), and EPAC (electric power-assisted cycles) which refer to bicycles that have an electric motor and rechargeable batteries to assist the power provided by the rider [1]. This trailer has to be equipped with solar cells and/or a portable wind turbine so it must work as an autonomous charging station. Thus, the rider of the bike will be able to have an average of 60km mileage per day without pedalling. Also there will be enough space for the camping equipment needed for a long distance travelling.
Why Autonomous?
The Autonomous project aims to develop an alternative way for medium
and long distance transportation. The targeted customers are the pedalecs users who would like to
upgrade their equipment for national and international travels. Moreover, Autonomous provides an
alternative way for energizing the battery of the pedalecs which reduces the cost for transportation
and gives the freedom of recharging the e-bike at any place.
How is this good?
On a global scale there is a large amount of pedalecs on the road and currently unfolding European
e-bike market [1]. Thus, there is a possibility in front of Autonomous to change the way of how the
batteries of these e-bikes are charged. More precisely, the ability of Autonomous to recharge every
e-bike battery from the solar and the wind power is in-line with the global movement for cleaner future
with much less carbon emissions and as less fossil fuel as possible. In this direction, Autonomous
reduce the fossil fuel usage by charging e-bikes ’out-off the grid’. This reduces the demand for electricity
from the grid which is mostly made out of coal [2] and this way reduces CO2 emissions because
the process of producing electricity from coal is the greatest greenhouse emitter worldwide. By using
Autonomous, every e-biker will be able to charge his bike without worrying about the power supply
and this way it is proved that a long distance travels are achievable without an extreme efforts.
A proof of this are Tour de Mongolia, Suntrip (from Italy, Milano to Kazakhstan, Astana) and the
France-Japan expedition of Florian Bailly. All of the participants of these trips, that are thousands of
kilometres long, have used solar trailers to recharge their electric bikes. In a long term, Autonomous
will teach its users about the possibilities for solar and wind powered travelling. As scientists expect
much more effective PV to come [3] the knowledge of electric vehicles coupled with solar installations
is something that has to be promoted to the society for the everybody’s benefit of cleaner planet Earth.
Acknowledgements
The project of "Autonomous" is possible because of the "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs" program that allows me to stay and work in FabLab Barcelona (supervised by Anastasia Pistofidou) between March and June 2015 and because of the Erasmus representative organisations, namely, the Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation and the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació.
Special thanks to all the Fab Lab Barcelona people who are very friendly and supported me at the right moments.
Finally, I would like to say to my family and the closest friends, thank you very much for the support, without your help the prototype of Autonomous would be impossible.
References
[1] “The Global E-bike Market”, INSG Insight-No. 23, September 2014.
[2] “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” http://www.epa. gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources.html
[3] “Solar cell efficiency” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell_efficiency
The aim of Autonomous is to develop a trailer that can be attached to any e-bike, pedelecs (from pedaled electric cycle), and EPAC (electric power-assisted cycles) which refer to bicycles that have an electric motor and rechargeable batteries to assist the power provided by the rider [1]. This trailer has to be equipped with solar cells and/or a portable wind turbine so it must work as an autonomous charging station. Thus, the rider of the bike will be able to have an average of 60km mileage per day without pedalling. Also there will be enough space for the camping equipment needed for a long distance travelling.
Why Autonomous?
The Autonomous project aims to develop an alternative way for medium
and long distance transportation. The targeted customers are the pedalecs users who would like to
upgrade their equipment for national and international travels. Moreover, Autonomous provides an
alternative way for energizing the battery of the pedalecs which reduces the cost for transportation
and gives the freedom of recharging the e-bike at any place.
How is this good?
On a global scale there is a large amount of pedalecs on the road and currently unfolding European
e-bike market [1]. Thus, there is a possibility in front of Autonomous to change the way of how the
batteries of these e-bikes are charged. More precisely, the ability of Autonomous to recharge every
e-bike battery from the solar and the wind power is in-line with the global movement for cleaner future
with much less carbon emissions and as less fossil fuel as possible. In this direction, Autonomous
reduce the fossil fuel usage by charging e-bikes ’out-off the grid’. This reduces the demand for electricity
from the grid which is mostly made out of coal [2] and this way reduces CO2 emissions because
the process of producing electricity from coal is the greatest greenhouse emitter worldwide. By using
Autonomous, every e-biker will be able to charge his bike without worrying about the power supply
and this way it is proved that a long distance travels are achievable without an extreme efforts.
A proof of this are Tour de Mongolia, Suntrip (from Italy, Milano to Kazakhstan, Astana) and the
France-Japan expedition of Florian Bailly. All of the participants of these trips, that are thousands of
kilometres long, have used solar trailers to recharge their electric bikes. In a long term, Autonomous
will teach its users about the possibilities for solar and wind powered travelling. As scientists expect
much more effective PV to come [3] the knowledge of electric vehicles coupled with solar installations
is something that has to be promoted to the society for the everybody’s benefit of cleaner planet Earth.
Acknowledgements
The project of "Autonomous" is possible because of the "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs" program that allows me to stay and work in FabLab Barcelona (supervised by Anastasia Pistofidou) between March and June 2015 and because of the Erasmus representative organisations, namely, the Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation and the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació.
Special thanks to all the Fab Lab Barcelona people who are very friendly and supported me at the right moments.
Finally, I would like to say to my family and the closest friends, thank you very much for the support, without your help the prototype of Autonomous would be impossible.
References
[1] “The Global E-bike Market”, INSG Insight-No. 23, September 2014.
[2] “Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” http://www.epa. gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources.html
[3] “Solar cell efficiency” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell_efficiency