E-bike project draws huge response in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: Engineering students, inventors and hobbyists from the Port City are currently showing keen interest to get their hands-on experience in building an e-bike from scratch.

Recently, Gomake Makerspace Visakhapatnam has started E-Bike Project Build and Forum. Nearly, 200 engineering students from mechanical engineering background have started attending this resource intense project in a bid to accomplish an in-depth practical knowledge on the subject.

When asked about the purpose of workshop, co-founder of Gomake Makerspace Ramaseshu Botu says, "Workshops on welding, inventing e-bikes are quite common in metro cities, but the workshop and sessions on e-bikes are not much familiar in this city." He further adds, "Currently, we are working with engineering students as they want to have a technical knowledge and evidently the city has not much to offer in this field. We work on exo- skeleton design, trellis frame body chassis which is famous in European countries which is rapidly replaceable with lithium polymer battery and titanium alloy. We have procured motor parts from Delhi."

When asked, why e-bike instead of other bikes and other projects, he further briefs, "We chose e-bike for workshop because we believe in the concept of go-green and we want to promote pollution-free environment for the future generation. In terms of comparing e-bikes in the market, I would say there is no comparison; it is known that e-bikes have a different mechanism."

Although, the engineering students take a considerable amount of interest in learning arc-welding, hand tools, metal library, positioning magnets and clamps, e-bike kits, e-ink screen kit, soldering kit and arduino kits, the forum also conducts workshops on textile, prototyping, CAD/CAM, film making and many more. "Our team provides with technical support, tools like 3D printer and many more. Moreover, these are resource intense projects and it is good for the city as it provides students a platform and they don't have to move to other cities."