Earlier this year, MEI had concluded interesting work on estimating the CO2 emissions for commercial and private vehicles in Madagascar to roll out green mobility loan programs for microfinance institutions. A similar task was conducted in Grenada once again targeting banks based on project requirements . On scoping the sector, MEI decided to explore e-micro mobility solutions relevant to developing countries and emerging markets through a master thesis.

Motivation: Electric two-wheelers (e-2Ws) and electric three-wheelers (e-3Ws) are going to play a central role in achieving “shared, connected, and electric” mobility in India. To support the rapid pace of commercial adoption of e-2Ws and e-3Ws, the availability of widespread charging infrastructure will be a crucial factor. At the same time, to incorporate this charging infrastructure into the grid, there is a need to bring about distribution and transmission upgrades which is a real challenge in congested cities. This study endeavours to design microgrid based charging infrastructure with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) exclusively for lithium-ion powered e-2Ws and e-3Ws.

Introduction: Motorised transport in India has two distinct features as exhibited in the population’s preferences. The first feature is the dominance of two-wheelers. These constitute the largest share of vehicles in India and therefore are the preferred mode of personal transport in both rural and urban areas. The second feature is the presence of three-wheelers, which serve as commercial vehicles for passenger and goods transport. Three-wheelers cater to the mobility needs of those not using private transport and not being served by the existing mass transit system. Within the three-wheeler segment, the share of passenger vehicles is higher than that of goods vehicles. Over the last decade, e-rickshaws has emerged as the most preferred choice for commercial last mile transport. According to the study by NITI Aayog and World Energy Council, it is also estimated that, together, two-wheelers and three-wheelers constitute 83% of all the vehicles in India.

Therefore, electrification of e-2Ws and e-3Ws is recognised as a low-hanging fruit for clean mobility in the country, based on market readiness, cost-competitiveness, ease of charging and emission reduction potential. Incidentally, 99% of all the EVs sold in India are e-2Ws and e-3Ws. Their growing adoption is expected to continue with the right policy elements focusing on the upfront cost reduction. In response to that, The Ministry of Road Transport and Highway allowed the registration and sale of electric vehicles without pre-fitted batteries. Original equipment manufacturers or energy service providers can provide the battery separately to customers. Also, NITI Aayog, Government of India’s (GOI) policy planning think tank, proposed a plan to ban sales of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) powered 2Ws and 3Ws starting from 2023 and 2025 respectively.

It is important to understand the issues being faced by India’s grid infrastructure at present that could be overloaded, as the charging infrastructure is incorporated in the grid. As of 2018, India achieved 8% wind and solar generation in its power system, doubling the share of 4% in 2016. In the future, IEA expects Indian states to experience an even higher share of renewables. The country will need to broaden the focus on power system flexibility coming from thermal plants to using all sources of flexibility (renewable power generators, grids, storage), based on a thorough analysis of power system transformation and flexibility needs. At the same time, the GOI’s target of complete electrification of the transport sector by 2030 will face the challenge to incorporate charging infrastructure. To solve these problems, renewable energy sources could be coupled with balancing energy sources, including batteries and other forms of storage such as pumped hydro.

With the cost of generation from solar dropping significantly, a similar trend is also expected for the prices of batteries. Further, the fall in prices of batteries could make renewables more economically feasible, since renewable power sources coupled with BESS can supply firm round-the-clock power.

Renewables and storage can find a multitude of other operational uses in power systems. One such application is microgrids, as it becomes relevant in both urban and rural setups. In a rural environment, microgrids can improve the accessibility to electricity, and in an urban setup, they can function as a source of overload management.

In congested cities such as Kolkata and Delhi, microgrids can be a beeline solution to overcome grid challenges such as distribution upgrades and right-of-way permits. The relevance of microgrids is even more important due to the dual peaks (afternoon and night) observed in the loading pattern in these cities. Solar power, coupled with BESS, could help reduce the afternoon peak. Grid-connected urban microgrids can be utilized for several applications such as improving grid reliability and resilience, reducing the cost of electricity supplied, providing ancillary services and replacement of diesel generator-set operation. Besides this, microgrids can provide quality supply to localised sensitive loads such as charging of electric vehicles.

Objective and Scope of the research: This study aims to facilitate the establishment of ubiquitous charging facilities for commercial e-2W and e-3W fleets in Indian cities. To this end, this research has two main objectives. The first is designing a smart microgrid based charging station with BESS operating in tandem with the grid. The second is to study the impacts of multiple similar microgrids on a particular distribution network.
The study acknowledges that the planning of microgrid based charging facilities for e-2Ws and e-3Ws requires an examination of the nuances of the Indian EV and grid ecosystem. There is a need to understand how various stakeholders involved, such as fleet operators, charging service providers and grid operators, are managing the charging requirements.

Conclusion: The envisaged outcome of the research is to explore the opportunity to make the charging infrastructure of upcoming electric micro-mobility fleet independent of the traditional grid in the short run, and at the same time to provide ancillary services to the grid in the medium-to-long run using microgrid powered charging infrastructure.

MEI also presented the upcoming research objectives for e-mobility at the Sustainable and Inclusive Global Mobility Initiative (SIGMI) conference, which was organised in collaboration with TU Berlin in Nov-Dec 2020. The conference aimed at promoting dialogue amongst experts about a global micro-perspective on sustainable mobility and raise awareness about bottom-up and human-centric approaches in infrastructure development and transportation. SIGMI was closely linked to two of these approaches: “Infrastructure and Mobility” and “Energy Systems and Sustainable Resource Management”. 

By way of such initiatives and concurrent research, MEI aims to keep the dialogue active amongst experts and business partners to provide a nourishing environment for innovation in sustainable transportation.