A new type of battery exchange cabinet is now in place at Bochum University of Applied Sciences, which the students of the Bobby E-Scooter project recently opened together with their supervisor, Prof Dr Semih Severengiz.

The students at Bochum University of Applied Sciences have been researching sustainable and innovative solutions in the field of Electric Mobility since the winter semester 18/19. In November, the BObby team reached an important milestone on their journey. The planning of a battery exchange station and the concept of battery provision were finalised with the construction of the "Swobbee" battery charging cabinet. The station has now been officially commissioned with representatives of the university and partner companies such as Stadtwerke Bochum, E-bility GmbH and Greenpack.

"The students can be proud of their achievement, because they have put a lot of work into the project," said Prof. Dr. Severengiz, Head of the Laboratory for Sustainability in Technology, in his welcoming speech. Not only does he see this as a success in the field of sustainable micromobility, but the President of the University, Prof Dr Bock, and the Dean of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Prof Rolf Biesenbach, are also enthusiastic about this step into the future. The modular battery exchange station, which resembles a cabinet with several compartments, can be used to charge different types of batteries for small vehicles (light electric vehicles).

The efficient battery exchange method is designed to optimise the battery's service life. Two project members, Alice Büyüktunca and Hermann Straßberger, demonstrated this to the guests. Alice Büyüktunca arrived on the "Kumpan" electric scooter from the scooter manufacturer E-bility and showed how the exchange could take place in a sharing operation. Anyone expecting the sound of a motor was surprised at how quietly and easily the ride on an e-scooter and the battery swap could be carried out. The purchase of the battery exchange cabinet was made possible by the FH-Basis grant from the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the university's own funds.

The students' project work will now enter the next phase: The aim is to generate the electricity required for the battery changing station from solar energy. The research results to date were presented by the students and the connections between the additionally purchased cargo bike, the SunCrafter solar station and the battery changing station were explained. In addition to interesting discussions on the topic of sustainable mobility, the attendees were keen to try out the battery swap station for themselves and the project members had time to network with the company representatives.