Design and Development of a Solar Electric Delivery Pod

Abstract

Use of autonomous solar electric vehicles for road delivery purposes in India remains highly unexplored area. The aim of these research paper is to cover major design aspects and develop a prototype solar electric delivery vehicle with autonomous drive for city logistic purposes. The vehicle design is constructed using the locally available raw materials and is aerodynamically tested. CAD modelling on SolidWorks’20 has been used to build a virtual physical model of the vehicle and aerodynamic testing is performed. MATLAB Simulink has been used to develop a mathematical simulation model with various subsystems like battery, motor, vehicle dynamics and PV charging module. Vehicle has been tested for 2 major drive cycles and results are plotted. The vehicle operates with a wheel hub BLDC motor by rechargeable Li-ion battery pack charged with the help of PV panel.