Modeling, Design, and Implementation of Electric Tri-Wheeler

Transportation sector is the second largest in utilization of fossil fuels. The impact of fossil fuel depletion and emissions from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles on the environment that contributes to the climate changes and global warming signifies the need for alternative solutions to transportation means such as electric vehicles. Differently abled people are mostly using modified two wheelers (4 wheeled scooters) to assist their mobility needs. Such vehicles have several disadvantages and are of great discomfort to the rider. Keeping in mind the necessities of differently abled people, a custom designed electric tri-wheeler is proposed. This paper gives an insight into modeling and design of the electric vehicle with step-by-step procedure. The design procedure is explained in detail with necessary equations. The structure design is performed using SolidWorks and the strength of the designed structure is analyzed with Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The deformation test is carried out and the torsional deformation test is conducted in ANSYS R15.0. The proposed electric tri-wheeler is built and tested. The vehicle performance is found very satisfactory. The overall operating cost of the vehicle is lower than that of the conventional modified twowheeler and the vehicle is more sustainable with zero emission.