Innovator Raju comes up with battery-run cycle

Warangal: Poverty and his rural background didn't deter him, in fact, galvanised him to go for indigenous solutions. Mupparapu Raju of Gopalpur under Duggondi mandal in Warangal Rural district, who hit the headlines in 2018 with his 'solar-powered mobile phone charging booth' concept and other inventions, has now come up with a cost-effective battery-run bicycle. With the petrol prices skyrocketing almost every day, the 31-year-old Raju, a graduate, whose parents are farm labourers, wanted to overcome the problem with a battery-run bicycle. He started working on it in his workshop at Girnibavi, a few kilometers away from his native place.

Raju used two 12-volt batteries, which could power a 24-volt DC motor. He fitted the freewheel to the rear wheel of the bicycle and connected it to the motor with a small chain. He fixed an electronic accelerator to the handle to run the bicycle.

Speaking to The Hans India, Raju said, "It takes one hour to fully charge the battery and it is enough to travel around 20 kilometers. The bicycle could run at a top speed of 25 kilometers per hour." Still you can pedal the bicycle and travel even when the battery runs out of charging. It took me Rs 10,000 to turn a normal bicycle into a battery-run one. This way, I am saving a few bucks compared to the travel cost of my two-wheeler, he said. It may be mentioned here that the then Warangal Urban District Collector Prashanth Jeevan Patil, who was impressed by Raju's inventions, gave him an opportunity to install his device that saves electricity from the streetlights, which often left burning right through the day in 50 gram panchayats. The then Gadwal Collector K Shashanka also encouraged Raju by utilising his device in gram panchayats. Fondly known as 'Inventor Raju' by his friends and villagers, has also made a heat sensing CCTV camera that alerts the owner of a locked house in case of a break in. Raju also made a remote control to turn on pumps in agriculture fields from home. His solar-powered mobile phone charger has become a huge hit with many district administrations opting to install it on their premises.