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E-scooter charging station

July 2020 -August 2020

This project was given to me under the supervision from eSakay, MERALCO’s electric vehicle subsidiary. The company is currently working on launching an e-scooter sharing program in the next two years. Given Manila’s congestion and relatively high crime rate in denser regions, eSakay decided instead of having free docking scooters (which may be parked anywhere), they wanted a locked docking system that could double as a charging station. 

 

In my design, I had 5 main design objectives:

  1. To minimize the surface area acquired

  2. To minimize the cost of materials

  3. To decrease the difficulty and time of assembly

  4. To optimize the ease of maintenance of internal wiring

  5. To optimize the aesthetics

 

I designed the scooter docking stations to be paired with the OMNI OBL 1 Bike Lock (which I thought could be repurposed as a scooter lock) which I modeled a CAD design off based on the specifications on the OMNI website. 

Brainstorming Process
My document (35).jpg
My document (34) 2.jpg
Rendering Process

After consulting with the client I rendered 2 possible to-scale combinations of the rack and wheel stopper on Fusion 360. The base materials would be Aluminum 6061 (a cheap, non-corrosive, easy-to-find), rubber (specifications tbd) and silicone detailing. Both designs were colored yellow (to match the detailing of the kick scooter) and green (to associate the design with green energy and sustainability). The combination of both colors was also meant to give a very playful aesthetic whilst being eye-catching and easy for users to spot in the sidewalk. 

 

The first design features 4 major components

  1. the metal platform to hide all wirings, a hole for wirings to reach the tapping point and provide a stable base for the post

  2. the wheel stopper curved at the optimal angle to minimize scooter space needed

  3. the charging port with rubber guarding to prevent scratching of the charging cord whilst providing an easy access point for users

  4. the lock post that holds 2 OBL 1 smart locks 

The second design features 2 main components

  1. the rack which is tilted at the same angle the scooter is tilted in to be ergonomically favorable

    • the top holds the OBL 1 smart lock

    • the back features a box to house all wiring components and a hole for the wires to snake out to a tapping point on the electric grid. 

  2. the wheel stopper which features 2 parallel rubber guards to sandwich the wheel 

When comparing the two designs, the first was the economically favorable one since it minimized the amount of space needed for both scooters and holds two scooters. However, the post needs to welded onto the platform and requires the assembly of multiple pieces. I particularly didn’t like the clunkiness of the design and small door/ access point to maintain the internal wiring. 

 

The second design looks sleeker and more modernist whilst being very minimalist. I predict that the assembly time would be much shorter and cheaper as it only requires 6 main pieces to be drilled together. 

 

Both designs can be modular to fit multiple scooter racks and bolted to the ground. However, eSakay is also looking at mechanisms to put weights inside the internal compartments so that the racks can be movable. 

 

After a third consultation with my department heads,  I changed the colors of my designs to match the Pantone colors of the company. 

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