This graduation project aimed to design a wireless charging solution for charging E-bikes in two-tier bicycle racks. The starting point of this project was the ‘Charging Kickstand’ from the Delft-based start-up ‘TILER’. This Charging Kickstand, when mounted and connected to any E-bike, is typically placed on top of a TILER ‘Charging Tile’ when the E-bike is parked. Within the context of this graduation project, two-tier bicycle racks, as commonly found at public locations such as train stations, forcing users to put their kickstands down to the ground to charge their E-bikes in addition to already placing their bikes within these racks is cumbersome and not a viable solution. Therefore, the main aim of this project was to develop a solution that utilized the same Charging Kickstand for wireless charging, without requiring users to perform any additional steps compared to regularly parking their bikes in two-tier bicycle racks.

The biggest challenge within this project was to design a charging solution that would not obstruct the bike when entering the bicycle rack. The Charging Kickstand is mounted in the exact location that any other kickstand would be on an E-bike: at the center between the pedals or at the rear of the bike on the chainstay. For a wireless charger to end up next to the kickstand when the bike is placed in the bicycle rack, it was determined that it would always cross paths with the pedals and cranks of the bike, possibly causing a collision or preventing a bike from entering the bicycle rack, which would result in the bicycle rack failing at its primary goal of storing bikes.

Through an exploratory initial prototyping and ideation process, two methods for preventing pedal collision were identified and tested:
1. Ensuring a pedal position upon entering the bicycle rack so that the pedals would move over the charger.
2. Having the charger ‘rest’ in such a position that it would not collide with the pedals and then automatically moving the charger itself towards the Charging Kickstand when the bike is placed all the way in the bicycle rack.

Both approaches proved to be unsuitable due to tight spatial margins within two-tier bicycle racks. It was then concluded that this project would result in a charging solution in which pedal collision is inevitable.

The resulting final design is a charger that can be pushed all the way flat to the ground by the pedals upon collision, allowing the pedals to pass over it. After being passed by the pedals, the flexible hinging mechanism on which this charger is placed causes the charger to spring back up to its upright charging position, giving this design the fitting name ‘TILER UP-Charge’.

The purpose of this graduation thesis is to design for Tiler’s long- term strategy, based on research into mobility. As a hardware startup that produces a wireless charging solution for light electric vehicles, Tiler sought guidance on its next steps to grow into a thriving business in the future. The company finds itself in the tumultuous mobility industry, which changes fast as the world tries to decarbonise transport. The mobility transition requires collaboration between different stakeholders such as municipalities, mobility providers and other parties that help to enable the changes society wants to see. Forging a future of sustainable transport in cities results in boosts of innovation and regulatory responses as we try to define what we want urban mobility to be like.
After conducting in-depth research into the mobility context during the exploration phase, this project describes the design process of creating a dynamic roadmap for Tiler as a strategic tool for the future. This concept was crafted based on trend research, knowledge of the stakeholder system and technologies that could drive the product evolution. The designed roadmap distinguishes itself from the common format as it integrates the uncertainties of the mobility context through use of scenarios. To evaluate the content, the concept was tested with experts. To discover the value for Tiler, the concept was evaluated with the team in the form of a workshop. In this session, I facilitated a walk-through of the concept which triggered discussions about the impact of alternative future scenarios.
Based on this evaluation, the team has gained insights on which markets to approach, which stakeholders to manage closely and the importance of continuing the conversation about the company’s future strategy on a weekly basis. The dynamic roadmap concept shows the potential to be adopted by the company. Furthermore, to extends its application, additional research and design activities could focus on making it suitable for other target groups and adding additional visual elements to bring the future to life even more.