Research Projects

The intention of the proposed research is to explore the potential of electrical bicycles for improving mobility in rural and semi-urban areas of India. Improvement in personal mobility can be a potential game changer for rural and semi-urban communities. For this there is a need to explore clean, low-cost, safe and user-friendly modes and the electric bicycle, an enhanced version of the human-powered bicycle, has the potential to fill the gap. Electric bicycles are entering the Indian market at present and there is a need to study the travel behaviour by electric bicycles in a real world setting in rural and semi-urban areas. The proposal includes experiments in four identified project areas (settlements) with electric bicycles as a shared service. The electric bicycles shall be provided by Mahindra Susten, the industry partner for the project, who are currently in the process of developing them for the Indian market. Prior to deployment of the electric bicycles, subjective factors related to the acceptance of electric bicycles as a shared service shall be identified and assessed. Preferred routes and destinations shall be identified and support services shall be designed on the basis of user needs and tested during the field trials. Sensor and GPS data from the electric bicycles shall be stored during the trials and analyzed subsequently to assess the travel behaviour and charging behaviour. Post trial survey of users shall be conducted to identify areas for service improvement and to assess the social impact. Sensor and GPS data from the electric bicycles shall also be used to develop range prediction model for rural and semi-urban areas using which the distance to empty and charge remaining at destination can be predicted based on riding pattern and route characteristics. The work shall lead to accumulation of a rich dataset for evidence based mobility planning that can be utilized for research, as well as lead to improvement in the product and service design.