A team led by Kettering University Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Dr. Chen Duan placed among the top three and earned the Audience Award at the Future of Energy for Mobility Challenge on Nov. 27.

The event, sponsored by Plastic Omnium and SoScience, is a global competition to find innovative solutions to reduce energy consumption in the mobility sector and promote clean energy integration. About 200 applicants from around the world participated in the four-round competition.

“I was so thrilled the moment I heard our team name on the video live,” Duan said. “Although I am aware of the exceptional work we’ve accomplished, the reality of competing alongside teams composed of leading engineers, renowned researchers and innovative startup entrepreneurs is truly remarkable. Having witnessed several live road shows from other projects, it’s clear that each one is a formidable contender, showcasing well-crafted and impressively presented ideas. I am now convinced the jury recognizes the unique potential of our project to significantly shape the future of energy in mobility.”

The Kettering project, “Solar Micromobility,” includes groundbreaking technology: a hybrid battery management system (BMS) with integrated solar energy harvesting. This leverages solar power to help with battery balancing and ensure this vital aspect is achieved using renewable solar energy. The BMS seamlessly transitions to activate battery balancing even when sunlight is scarce, including at night, to guarantee year-round battery protection without energy waste.

The jury selected the top teams and projects based on the following criteria:

• The innovation of the proposed solution emphasizing feasibility and scalability
• The overall environmental and social impacts
• The viability of the business model and the potential market sizes

In addition to being selected as one of the top three projects, the Kettering team won the Audience Award after earning the most votes from the in-person and online audience.

Duan’s team has been working on the project for a year. He submitted the proposal to the challenge in July.  After it advanced to the second round, Duan went to Paris in September to meet the other candidates. As a requirement for the second round, he connected with Acticyle, an innovative startup specializing in four-wheeled e-bikes, and Solar Cloth, a France-based leading manufacturer of state-of-the-art flexible solar panels, to expand the team.

“During this event, I connected with our future partners and discovered each of us was independently working on different components that could synergistically combine into an exceptional product,” Duan said. “It was like fitting together pieces of a puzzle to deliver a revolutionary concept in mobility. Seizing this opportunity, we united our efforts to develop a four-wheeled e-bike with high-efficiency solar panels and a solar-assisted battery management system, embodying a true leap forward in sustainable transportation.”

He said this project is important because it demonstrates to the public and vehicle Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and users the untapped potential of solar energy in electric vehicles (EVs).

“The integration of solar panels on EVs is a concept that has yet to gain widespread acceptance, primarily due to the perceived imbalance between the energy harvested and the associated costs,” Duan said. “However, our project seeks to redefine this perception.”

In this case, solar power charges the batteries with clean energy and balances them, making them last longer. The battery is the most critical and expensive component in an EV, but this project demonstrates the effectiveness of the technology.

“We aspire for this project to be a catalyst that draws more attention to onboard solar systems in mobility, thereby facilitating a greater penetration of green energy solutions in the automotive sector,” Duan said.

Graduate students Kenton Kyger ’25 and Raymond Blair Jr. ’25 helped with the research. 

“My biggest takeaway has been there are always new ways to tackle a problem, as the team has demonstrated thus far,” Blair said. “With the work that we have put in, we have discovered another way to make systems that are environmentally friendlier, energy conscious and more resilient.”

Kyger represented the Kettering team at the event.

“It is exciting to play a part in developing this new approach to addressing energy management in an electrified system,” Kyger said. “Meeting with our partners in France for the final round was a great experience, and it clearly demonstrated the mobility industry’s appetite for practical, sustainable solutions.”

The team won 60,000 euros ($65,724.90 USD), which it will use to develop a prototype of the Li-ion battery pack, complete with a solar-assisted battery management system. The prototype will resemble a market-ready product designed to fit the four-wheeled e-bike Acticycle is developing.

“Our strategy involves developing two vehicles outfitted with solar panels from Solar Cloth and a battery pack/battery management system devised by Kettering University,” Duan said. “The testing phase will be geographically distributed: One prototype vehicle will ship to the U.S. for comprehensive testing while Acticycle will conduct parallel tests with the second prototype in France.”

Tests will focus on efficiency, safety and the overall robustness of the system. Once successful testing is completed and necessary certifications are granted, Acticyle will begin mass production.