Team 18- Helios

Abstract

Now more than ever, it is critical for us to reduce our carbon emissions to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy for energy generation is a change that has gradually taken place over the past decade, but changing the way we generate energy is not enough to achieve the necessary reductions in emissions. In 2019, the transportation sector accounted for 28% of energy consumption in the United States. While Americans notoriously rely on cars to get around, in the future transportation may be a combination of public transit, micro mobility, and electric vehicles. We have seen many options implementing these solutions in recent years, and perhaps the most interesting trend is shared electric scooters/bikes. Bird, Lime, Spin, and others have popped up in metropolitan areas around the world providing a quick way to move around the city. These scooters are a much more eco friendly alternative to cars, but they still create some emissions from the electricity they use to charge. We seek to create a solar powered electric scooter charging station to make using these scooters a 100% carbon free transportation option. Deploying a network of charging stations will also reinforce the current charging infrastructure for these scooters. Currently, most of these scooters rely on independent workers to pick them up, charge them overnight, and set them back out in the morning. Our project will take advantage of this growing market for electric scooters as well as go further to address some of the current issues these scooters face.

Built With

• solidworks