Short paper: On the potential of V2X communications in helping electric bicycles saving energy

Smart transportation, an important dimension of smart cities, includes not only intelligent transportation solutions, but also “green” transportation solutions. Cycling, as one of the most sustainable form of transportation, occupies an important place in the context of smart cities. Electric bicycles, the most popular electric vehicles, subscribe to this type of transportation. They have several advantages when compared to traditional bicycles, but also issues that relate to battery limited capacity and long periods of charging. Consequently energy-efficient solutions for electric bicycles are of very high research interest. Energy-efficient solutions based on V2X communications that are dedicated to electric vehicles are still in early research stages. So far, very few works have been proposed and their performance evaluation has been done analytically only. Among electric vehicles, electric bicycles distinguish themselves as a special class as they have different characteristics and road-related requirements. This paper presents our study of the potential of V2X communications to be used by electric bicycles for energy saving. For this purpose, a test-bed was built in order to facilitate a more realistic study compared to the analytical studies conducted so far. The results obtained show that the employment of V2X communications in the context of electric bicycles can lead to significant energy savings.