Pune businessmen design solar-powered bike

Two Pune-based businessmen, dealing in electrical goods, have designed a solar-powered bike that can run up to a distance of 250 kilometres on a sunny day.

According to the uncle-nephew duo-- Ayubkhan Pathan and Imrankhan Pathan-- the bike can also be used to run electrical appliances like fan, computer or television when stationed at home and especially during load-shedding.

Ayubkhan, who runs a company in Budhwar Peth in Pune for the last 20 years in the field of solar powered products and electrical goods, was working on this design for the last three years.

The bike has a DC supply, DC battery charger and DC motor fitted to the wheel. Sun rays are used to charge the DC supply and then the battery through the solar PV panel. The provision for storage back up is for eight hours.

"The bike can run to cover a distance of 50-60 km and there is a charger controller CRD fitted between the solar panel and the battery once fully charged the supply gets cut off. On a bright sunny day, the battery gets charged and it can run upto 200-250 km at a speed of 40-50 km per hour," he said.

"We are in the process of getting the patent for the bike and there are many parts of the bike need to be changed. The outer solar panels are to be fitted to the body of the bike and also Solar LED headlight, Right and Left indicator, Brake indicator are to be re-fitted so that the weight of the bike can be reduced by at least 25-30 kg," they said.

They said that the bike costs Rs 27,000. But once the design is improved and made more efficient, the cost can come down to Rs 16,000, the duo claimed. To use the bike during rainy season, the innovative science graduates have designed a multi-purpose socket (MPS).

This device will charge the battery by using electronic supply charger.  Asked whether they are getting subsidy from the government of Maharashtra under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), Ayubkhan said that they met Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday and in a couple of days were planning to meet Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.