Universal Charger for Shared E-Bikes

Abstract

The market for shared mobility has seen massive growths in recent years. Pollution and congestion requires us to rethink how we move around and new technologies make sharing continuously easier and more convenient. Society is slowly moving towards a mindset that values access over ownership, and this is also the case for (urban) mobility. Research has shown that convenience is the most important factor for people to engage in shared mobility and the rising demand leads to all kinds of light electric vehicles popping up in our streets. Especially e-bikes gain market quickly, both in the form of publicly shared vehicles as well as within corporate fleets. But with operating shared mobility programs also come challenges, and keeping all those vehicles charged is definitely a major one. Free-floating vehicles are often charged by manually swapping its batteries, while dock-based schemes rely on its users connecting the charger after use of the service. Docking stations for e-bikes exist that combine locking the bike in a physical dock with charging its batteries, but they are often expensive, take up a lot of valuable (public) space and are bike-specific. Next to that, contacts suffer from breaking, mechanical wear and corrosion. The start-up TILER is currently developing a universal wireless charging solution for e-bikes, however the physical form of a charging tile with an accommodating kickstand is not considered as the ideal physical form to apply wireless charging to shared vehicles. Therefore, a graduation project was set up to explore alternative solutions and design a universal and convenient charger for shared electric bicycles. The result of this project is the TILER Click, a product that makes charging an integral part of retrieving and returning shared e-bikes from their hub. The easy alignment in combination with a simple yet efficient clicking mechanism make the TILER Click so simple to connect and disconnect that it is no longer an effort to charge the bike. Placement of the receiver on the rear of the electric bicycle make the product extremely universal and versatile, regardless of bike geometry. The TILER Click offers a convenient, simple and reliable way of keeping e-bike fleets charged. With that, it not only enhances the experience of charging itself, but also has a positive impact on the user experience of the entire system. Being able to charge shared e-bikes in a uniform and simple way can play a crucial role in the future of (shared) mobility.