Development of Range Enhancement Device for Personal Electric Mobility

One of the biggest obstacles to the adoption of electric vehicles is their limited operating range per full charge of the onboard energy storage. This issue is known as range anxiety - people are reluctant to depend on EVs due to myriad reasons such as running out of stored energy, lack of charging facilities and the time it takes to charge. Much research has been carried out to address this concern; some propose combining conventional and electric engines for the best of both worlds, others propose strategically placing charging stations, and still others propose using algorithms to determine the best route for the vehicle. This research attempts to implement a simple current limiting mechanism for existing personal electric mobility (PEM) equipment such as electric scooters, which will track its onboard battery state-of-charge (SoC) and produce a new signal that controls the level of current provided to the motor. This can help to limit energy depletion from the battery and thus extend the scooter’s range. By using MATLAB-Simulink software, this study simulates a PEM and the current limiting mechanism. With the use of Arduino circuitry, this research involves tapping into the existing electric scooter to record and analyze serial communication between the user interface and motor controller, to limit the motor’s current and achieve longer range.