A techno-economic assessment for charging easy bikes using solar energy in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh easy bikes are charged using electricity from the national grid. There are about 200,000 easy bikes over the country. It has been a debate to run these bikes using electricity from grid as Bangladesh is facing severe electricity crisis. Only about 55% of the population have access to electricity from the national grid. Easy bike charging by renewables offers good solution from economic and environmental point of view. Electricity production from solar energy is free from fossil fuel use and thus greenhouse gases (GHGs) are not emitted. This study aims at developing a spared-sheet-based techno-economic model to estimate the cost of charging of easy bikes using solar energy. The model also calculates the mitigation of GHG emissions. The cost of charging is found to be Tk. 14.08/km for a charging time of 6 hours. If the bikes are charged using grid electricity, the cost of charging is found to be Tk. 7.44/km at an electricity cost of Tk. 7.6/kWh. If the electricity cost passes Tk. 17/kWh, easy bike charging from solar energy is cost competitive compared to charging from conventional grid electricity. The results show that 1860.5 kg-CO2/year/easy bike can be mitigated if the bikes are charged using solar electricity instead of conventional grid electricity. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to see the impact of various parameters on the unit cost (Tk./km) of charging.