International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) researchers have designed a unique charging solution for e-scooters. The head of Processes, Architecture and Technologies Research in IoT (PATRIoT) division at IIIT-H, Dr. Aftab Hussain and his team have designed a complete end-to-end charging solution from the electronic hardware components that are sturdy and safe enough for outdoor deployments to the software that contains an appropriate processor to control all input and output devices of the system.
Dr. Hussain and his team of researchers proposed a unique design and fabrication of charging equipment specifically for e-scooters in a paper titled, “Compact Electric Vehicle Charging Station Using Open Charge Point Protocol for E-Scooters” which was presented at the 2021 International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Future Electric Transportation.
The researchers have used a flexible, inexpensive membrane for the keypad with a longer lifespan than a mechanical keypad. Here, the user has to swipe an RFID card that authenticates them before they enters the amount for which charging has to be done. Safety features such as emergency disconnection of AC power supply in case it goes beyond a minimum threshold, or in case of hardware faults have also been incorporated.
Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) is the USP of the system. With this, charging stations are no longer vendor specific. The team started working on the solution as the charging infrastructure for two-wheelers is yet to catch up.
