Proceedings of the 16th International IEEE Annual Conference on WeB2.

5
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC 2013), The Hague, The
Netherlands, October 6-9, 2013

Design Approach for Electric Bikes Using Battery and Super Capacitor
For Performance Improvement
Nikhil Hatwar1, Anurag Bisen2, Haren Dodke3, Akshay Junghare4
nikhil.hatwar@gmail.com , anuragbisen6699@gmail.com2 , haren9113@yahoo.com3 , akki.akshay@gmail.com4
1

Dr. Milind Khanapurkar5, IEEE Member

milind.khanapurkar@raisoni.com5
Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering Department 1, 3, 4, 5
Electrical Engineering Department Department2
G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur, India

Abstract: The market for electric bikes, scooters and bicycles is

growing. There are numerous brands of E-bikes emerging
locally. All most all incorporate a rear wheel BLDC (Brushless II. MERITS OF PRESENT E-BIKES
DC) hub motor; lead acid battery pack, a light weight chassis,
and a controller. The Vehicle achieves average speed of 30- A. Good efficiency
50km/hr, range of 70km/charge. The other drawback is the
long charging time of 6-8 hrs and short lifespan of battery
IC engines are 40% efficient whereas BLDC (Brushless
pack i.e. around 2 years. Considering these limitations authors DC) motors equipped in e-bikes are above 90% efficient in
are modifying the existing design of an electric bike which will power utilization. The motors are robust for use in all
give a better performance with the use of a hybrid system of weather conditions with almost all types of road conditions.
battery and super capacitor. The authors in this paper have
tried to address the drawbacks observed in e-bike operations B. Eco-friendly
and have presented the results of their experimentations. If the electric power required to charge the batteries is
Super-capacitor modules are used to provide the high current derived from non conventional sources, then electric
required during starting and acceleration, and eventfully will vehicles are very environment friendly.
help increasing lifespan of battery. A secondary source, like
regenerative braking or a small solar panel module could be
availed onboard so as to charge battery/ super capacitor. C. Cheaper and Quieter Journey
Keywords: E-bike, Super-capacitor, BLDC, Throttle, Buck- Due to good efficiency, electric units required to travel a
Boost Converter, PWM, Aerodynamic drag, hall sensor given distance compared those with power requirement of
feedback fossil fuel is too less (for instance an electric bike called
Yo- smart model of E-bike has average of 0.08paisa/km).
I. INTRODUCTION Electric vehicles are the quietest of all means of transport.

Electric vehicles have their history since early 20th III. DEMERITS OF PRESENT E-BIKE
century even before the IC engines came along. Even
though the IC engines have dominated for most of the 20th A. Lower speed
century, electric vehicles have emerged again quite firmly, E-bikes don’t attend the higher speeds which petrol or
mainly due to the environmental concerns related with Diesel powered vehicles easily do.
fossil fuels. But there are similar environmental concerns
with electric vehicles too if we consider lead acid batteries B. Longer charging time
whose decomposition is not eco-friendly.
The batteries require about 6-8 hours of charging time. Even
The electric bikes which are available and are affordable if we neglect the scarcity of charging stations, 6-8hours is
incorporates a rear wheel BLDC (Brushless Direct Current)
pretty long duration.
motor which is suitable and compact. The battery pack is a
series combination of cells, a controller which controls the C. Battery issues
power transaction. Traction battery is generally lead acid
which are cheaper compared with other types. A Especially lead acid batteries which degrade heavily over
potentiometer box is present which acts as accelerator along time (500–800 charge-discharge cycles). So a bike with lead
with other minor circuitry and accessories. With these acid batteries will require replacement after about 2-3 years.
specifications, E-bikes attend 25-40km/hr speed and 50- The decomposition of batteries is not eco-friendly. The
70km/charge range. weight of batteries also adds to more than half the weight of
the bike.

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 Authors have incorporated super capacitors because of their
following advantages:
IV. PROPOSED DESIGN
• High Power Density and High Current Capability
Based upon a detailed analysis of above demerits, authors • Very High Efficiency
have proposed a modified design of E-bikes as shown in • Less Charging Time
figure 1. The bike will have 2kW 48V geared BLDC rear • Long Life Cycle
wheel hub motor, driven by a 48V 40Ah battery pack and • Low Impedance
the supercapacitor bank consisting of a 16V, 58F to be • Simple Charging Methods
connected in parallel with the battery pack via a buck boost • Wide Temperature Range
converter which is designed to harvest the maximum energy
from it. Microcontroller circuitry senses various parameters The only disadvantage of super capacitors is they discharge
and performs switching and controlling action. The quickly and should not be subjected to overvoltage.
controller is the heart of E-Bike which regulates controlling
actions and power through each subsystem. Throttle is a
potentiometer box which acts as an accelerator.

Figure 2 Super capacitors (16.2V, 25F)

B. Onboard secondary power source

A small solar panel is mounted on the bike taking the

aerodynamics of the bike into consideration. The
regenerative braking acts as another power sources too.
Regenerative breaking is the use of the kinetic energy of the
bike during de-acceleration to charge battery. The
secondary source will be used to charge battery, which then
will charge the supercapacitor bank and power the
accessories.
Figure 1 Block diagram of proposed design of E-Bike.
C. Battery related issues
V. SALIENT FEATURES The proposed design involves use of Lithium iron
phosphate battery (LiFePO4) batteries as they are lighter
and eco-friendlier than lead acid. Importantly they have
A. Hybrid energy storage system
better life of about 7-12 years. LiFePO4 batteries also have
lesser charging time of 4-6 hrs which is quite better than 6-8
A parallel combination of battery and supercapacitor is
hrs of lead acid.
involved. As the name implies, a supercapacitor is a
capacitor with capacitance of very high value.
Supercapacitors do not have a traditional dielectric material D. Better power management
like ceramic, polymer films or aluminum oxide to separate The algorithm as shown in figure 3 is deployed in design to
the electrodes instead a physical barrier made of activated manage power from batteries and super capacitors. The
carbon. A double electric field which is generated when accelerator is a 5V potentiometer varied from 5V to 0V.
charged, acts a dielectric. The surface area of the activated According to the BLDC motor datasheet, the hub motor
carbon is large thus allowing for the absorption of large consumes heavy current during starting and accelerating.
amount of ions.

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 5V is the ideal position and 0V is the fully accelerated
position of the accelerator. START

Super capacitors and batteries will be in circuit providing

power to motor. But if the super capacitor’s state of charge D: OFF
(SoC) sinks below 8V, then super capacitors will get
detached from the circuit and will start charging from T: ON
auxiliary battery. There will be a switch along with the
brakes which will engage regenerative breaking as the bike
starts de-accelerating.

The demerits of E-bikes discussed above have been dealt IS

in the following way to provide respective solution:
2.5< Va <5
A. For low speed
Super capacitor bank is especially used to provide the heavy
initial starting current. So super capacitors not only provide
the required boost but also relieve battery from stress of
huge currents, thus improving the battery life. Supercaps
are also used with a switch in a boost mode when higher
speed is required. IS

B. For long charging time VS >8

LeFePO4 battery pack has charging time of 4-6 hrs. In

addition to this, the demerit also means that the range per
charge of the bike is lesser. Conversely if longer is the range
per charge of the bike (say 100-150km/charge) then waiting D: ON
for batteries to get charged is quite digestible notion.
T: OFF
So, to increase the range, the proposed model involves
regenerative and secondary power source like a small solar
cell module. Va = Throttle (pot) position (0-5 V)
Vs = Supercapacitor SoC
T = Thyristor across super capacitor bank
Thus, even if there is no charging station in between 2 spots D = Diode across super capacitor charging Circuit
along the journey, the bike is getting charged even at
standstill. Eventually we could say that charging time has
been reduced due to LiFePO4 and the range has been Figure 3 Algorithm for battery power management
increased due to regenerative and onboard solar cell
module.

Instead of charging the batteries in series from one charger,

the charging method is modified and is as shown in figure
4. The battery pack is divided in to two sets and the sets are
charged via two chargers respectively.

C. For battery issues

Battery is the most important component of any electric
vehicle. Tesla, the only electric sports car company has
attended figures like 200km/hr speed and acceleration of 0-
60 km/hr in 3.7 seconds. It has only been possible due to a
nice battery design. LiFePO4 has larger life span and are
lighter and cleaner. But they are costlier than lead acid, so
until the next breakthrough in battery technology, LiFePO4 Figure 4 Battery packs and charging terminals
or its derivatives suits best for electric vehicles. So, we
could say that we have partially overcome the battery issue
demerit.

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 VI. REQUIREMENTS OF THE SYSTEM bike as experimentation platform to overcome the demerits
of e bikes.
The first step in order to design the system is to establish
the objectives of the work according to the energy
consumption and the performance of the vehicle for
individual use. The amount of power a vehicle needs in
order to travel at a given speed can be approximately
calculated by adding the aerodynamic drag and rolling
resistance. Aerodynamic drag may be calculated using the
following formula.

P drag = 0.5 ρ Cd A V3

Where,
• ρ – Density of air
• C d – Coefficient of drag
• A – Frontal area of vehicle in m2
• V – Speed in m/s

And rolling resistance may be calculated as follows:

P rr = V C rr g m
Where,
• V – Speed in m/s
• Crr – coefficient of rolling resistance
• G – 9.81m/s2
• m – Mass (kg)
Figure 5 E-bike chassis as experimentation platform for design
So, total power required to maintain the vehicle of 230kg
speed at 60 km/h is about VII. ELECTRONIC OVERVIEW

• P drag = 0.5 (1.225)(0.8)(1)(16.7)3 = 2282W A. Controller (Kelly KEB48300X)

• P rr = (16.7) (0.04) (9.81) (230) = 1507W Kelly KEB48300X programmable electric bicycle BLDC
controller provides efficient, smooth and quite controls for
• Total power required (Pt) = P drag + P rr electric bicycle, electric motorcycle, scooter conversion, etc.
Electric bicycle brushless motor controller outputs high
• Pt = 3789W taking off current, and strictly limit battery current. Motor
speed controller can work with relative small battery, but
Speed (rpm) = (m/s) 60/circumference of wheel provide good acceleration and hill climbing. BLDC motor
speed controller uses high power MOSFET, PWM to
• Assuming diameter of wheel= 14’’ = achieve efficiency 99%. In most cases, Powerful
355mm=0.355m microprocessor brings in comprehensive and precise control
to BLDC motor controllers. This programmable brushless
• rpm = (16.7)60/ 0.355 = 900 motor controller also allows users to set parameters,
conduct tests, and obtain diagnostic information quickly and
• Torque (Nm) = 9.55 (power)/Speed(rpm) easily.

= 9.55(3789)/900

= 48.88Nm

Depending upon all these considerations 2kW 48V BLDC

hub motor is selected. Figure 5 shows the experimentation
setup with design modifications mentioned above for Yo Figure 6 Kelly Controller

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 B. Buck-Boost Converter Usable Energy,
2
E u = Et * (1 – ( V min / V max 2 )
Figure 6 shows the circuit details of buck boost converter
connected across parallel battery super capacitor network. E u = 4669 Joules
The controller is an integrated unit for BLDC motor
driving. BLDC motor is a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)
Apart from these, there are regulatory and limiting circuitry
driven 3-phase motor. The controller analyzes the hall
for protecting battery and super capacitor bank and
sensor feedback from the rotor and then generates a desired
microcontroller circuit which along with various input
PWM signals. Battery and supercapacitor bank are in
parameters performs controlling operation according to the
parallel, but both differs in voltages, thus a buck-boost
algorithm discussed in section V of the paper.
converter is required to boost the voltage of super capacitor
bank from 15V to 48V. It bucks the incoming power from
motor during regeneration. So it is a bidirectional buck-
boost converter.

Figure 7 Super capacitor bank charging simulation circuit

Figure 6 Bidirectional buck-boost converter

C. Super capacitor bank charging circuit

Super capacitor bank will be charged from auxiliary battery.

Figure 7 and 8 shows the simulation and actual charging
circuit. The circuit acts as a variable buck converter. The
circuit has resistor divider network excited from auxiliary
battery input which provides bias to switching device
MOSFET. The MOSFET has super capacitor bank in its
circuit across resistance which charges super capacitors. Figure 8 Super capacitor bank charging circuit

Figure 9 is the input waveform of the constant 48V (actual

input voltage will vary according to state of charge of
auxiliary battery). Figure 10 shows the output waveform
bucked to 16V. The voltage value of charging terminals has
to be kept well below 16V so as to protect super capacitors.
Also, super capacitors will be used only from 15V to 8V, as
we do no indent to discharge them completely. So the
power from the super capacitor is calculated as follows:

Total energy E t= ½ CV2

E t = ½ x 58 x 152 = 6525 Joules

Assume the minimum voltage can drop to 8V, and

Figure 9 Charging circuit simulation (input)
maximum voltage is 15V

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 of innovators and engineers since a decade. With more and
more advancement in battery technology, electric vehicles
offer a prominent future in transportation. With
incorporation of super capacitors the life of battery has been
increased. With modification of design using advanced
controller, better motor, other subsequent improvements
implemented in the design, the speed of vehicle is
increased considerably. However with more professionalism
and a robust chassis, it is possible to increase the speed
further.

A small onboard solar panel could charge the super

capacitor through an auxiliary battery. The solar panel will
also help extending the range of the bike in addition to the
Figure 10 Charging circuit simulations (output) regenerative braking system. So even if the bike is parked
somewhere where there is no charging facility, a sheer
VIII. RESULTS standing bike is getting charged up for the solar panel.
With above modifications in the design, the Yo-bike used as
experimentation platform, the authors could achieve The experimentation and testing for few more parameters
following significant improvement in the results for related to other demerits mentioned in section III is under
different parameters. execution and will be presented subsequently for better
performance of E-bikes.
• Increased Speed
REFERENCES
The prime demerit of electric bikes available is their low
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Ayush Puskar, “ Electric Bike Using Batteries and Super
Experimentation platform vehicle has achieved a top speed capacitors”, G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur, India,
of 65km/hr with a load of one person due to the extra National Conference RTITC-12, Dec 7, 8-2012.
instantaneous current provided by ultra capacitor and highly [2] Bhaskar Krishnamachari, , “Bidirectional buck-boost converter with
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Cooper Union, New York, NY 10003,
[3] Juan W. Dixon, Micah Ortúzar and Eduardo Wiechmann, “
• Increased Range per Charge Regenerative Braking for an Electric Vehicle Using Ultra capacitors
and a Buck-Boost Converter”, Department of Electrical
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[7] Shane Colton, “A Simple Series Battery/Ultra capacitor Drive
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[8] D. M. Sousa, P. J. Costa Branco, J. A. Dente, “ Electric Bicycle
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