Five students of Agnel Institute of Technology and Design have built a custom solar electric bicycle that can comfortably cover the distance between Panaji and Vasco on a single charge. The electric cycle is powered by 20 lithium ion batteries which can be charged by two solar panels or a conventional power supply point at home. The five mechanical engineering students from the institute began toying with the idea of building a self-sustained cycle powered by energy from the Sun a year back as part of their final semester project. Endless power with little to no damage to the environment is the holy grail for transportation and the five boys wanted to help reduce carbon emissions. Beginning in early July, the students -Veloy Fernandes, Hrishikesh Mandrekar, Rohan Naik, Annal Prabhu Ajgaonkar, Beniston Ribeiro - fabricated a cycle frame made of stainless steel. They mounted two solar panels on the cycle to charge the 20Ahr 18650 Li-Ion batteries. “The cycle weights 29 kilos at present. We could have made an aluminium frame or even from carbon to reduce the weight but it would have been very expensive,” said Ribeiro, one of the five students who worked on the project. A pulse width modulation (PWM) charge controller ensures that the batteries do not overcharge or short circuit. The batteries power a brushless DC (direct current) motor which is mounted onto the rear wheel.