Up to one million electric three wheelers are in operation in Bangladesh, contributing to a substantial peak load in the electricity network during the charging process.

Within the GIZ EEGIRE 2 framework of the German-Bangladesh partnership, Energynautics conducted a feasibility study on strategies to mitigate the impact of electric three-wheeler charging on the distribution network. Through surveys conducted with three-wheeler-, charging station- and network- operators, the benefit and potential for smart charging was reviewed. The goal was to develop a conceptual design for a smart charger costing well below 5 US-Dollar per charger.

To meet the requirements, great emphasis was placed on selecting cost-effective hardware that nevertheless provides a secure and reliable control environment. The developed algorithm disconnects a certain number of vehicles depending on the measured load of the distribution transformer or lines. The vehicles are reconnected, when the overload of the grid element is resolved or after a maximum duration of 1 hour to ensure that the battery is full the next morning.

The resulting smart charger design was presented at the 6^th E-Mobility Power System Integration Symposium 2022 in The Hague and is expected to be tested in a follow up pilot study.