OneDock by microFleet

Outerspace Design (OSD) led OneDock’s design and development in consultation with the client microFleet, using a traditional V-model process. This focussed on understanding user needs, commercial drivers, environmental and regulatory risk factors, and engineering and manufacturing requirements, before designing a solution that best balanced all these factors.

An early ‘proof of concept’ was designed and built to facilitate user trials, which in turn informed further refinements to the system design and engineering specifications. This work involved Systems, Electronics, Firmware and Mechanical Engineering disciplines, synthesised through an Industrial Design lens.

Further product iterations based on user feedback improved system functionality and incorporated Design for Manufacture and Design for Assembly principles. IOT devices and software solutions from leading international suppliers were also incorporated into the OneDock platform to provide full connectivity and optimise fleet operations.

The final product is attractive, practical, affordable and sustainable. It provides a flexible hardware and software platform which will enable many future variants of OneDock, exceeding microFleet’s expectations and the design brief (only one variant of the OneDock platform was expected to be delivered).

During the two-year development process, the design team continually incorporated emerging technologies such as compact IOT devices with V2E (vehicle-to-everything) functionality and new types of LEVs such as high capacity e-quadricycles. They also responded to changing regulations and market forces such as the legalisation of e-scooters in Victoria and the escalation of LEV battery fires from unregulated charging. This has enabled microfleet to secure a valuable first-to-market position in the burgeoning global micromobility charging sector.

microFleet conceived OneDock after many years of managing Light Electric Vehicle (LEV) fleets, including Australia Post’s national fleet. They saw an unfulfilled global demand for universal LEV locking, charging, tracking and sharing.

Given the diversity of LEVs and batteries on the market, the brief to design a universal platform was very challenging.

Key design attributes: Functional: OneDock is the most affordable, robust and flexible LEV infrastructure platform in the world. It can be deployed across many sectors to meet the diverse mobility needs of workers, residents, students, tourists and couriers.

Accessible: OneDock supports inclusive LEV fleets, including mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs for people with mobility impairments.

Aesthetic: Good industrial design underpins OneDock, with all mechanical, systems, electronic and firmware elements synthesised in a sleek, cohesive system.

Safe: Non-compliant LEV batteries and chargers create a major fire hazard in homes and workplaces. OneDock mitigates this risk with a unique closed-loop charging system that precludes non-compliant chargers and batteries. Its robust design also deters vehicle theft via a charging cable reinforced with a hardened steel chain, while embedded GPS enables vehicle tracking and recovery.

High quality: OneDock is primarily made from robust and recyclable materials such as powder coated steel and aluminium, with some minor UV-resistant nylon components to ensure long life.

Sustainable: OneDock is designed to replace all unnecessary and wasteful trips by heavy vehicles such as cars through easy access to and use of LEVs. This includes the 50% of trips in Australia that are less than 5km.

User experience: while the underlying technology platform is complex, the mechanical and mobile software user interface is elegant and simple.

New design benchmark: OneDock’s clean and sleek design and embedded smart technology elevates LEV infrastructure from rudimentary analogue bike racks to a future-proof networked digital platform.

For successful global deployment, OneDock’s design had to address several challenging criteria through innovation and creativity:

Truly universal:
There is huge diversity in light electric vehicles (LEVs) and batteries, including, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-trikes, e-quadricycles, mobility scooters and e-wheelchairs with lithium, lead acid and NiMh batteries ranging from 12-60 V. Designing an automated locking and safe charging interface for all LEVs is very challenging. Competing systems either provide standard power outlets, so there is no control or visibility of chargers or batteries, or they accommodate a very limited range of vehicles.

OneDock addresses this challenge with a novel universal smart charging lock that can be fitted temporarily or permanently to any LEV in 5 minutes. The lock automatically clamps onto the dock’s heavy-duty charging cable, instructs the dock’s programmable battery charger to switch to the correct program, and performs an electronic handshake to open the battery for charging. Battery charging can be remotely monitored in real-time. Uniquely, OneDock works for both private LEVs and shared fleets.

Modular, flexible and scalable:
OneDock will be deployed across many sectors, including universities, residential and commercial properties, tourism, industry, government, shared micromobility and deliveries. The platform is designed to operate in a range of environments – indoors, on public streets, in remote locations – and scales – from small private systems to city-wide fleets.

Affordable:
Competing LEV charging stations sell for about $2,000 per dock on average. At mass production, OneDock will be half this price. We have achieved this through a simple and compact design that minimises materials and manufacturing complexity.

Diverse users: No other LEV docking system caters for the diversity of LEV users and their vehicles ranging from wheelchairs and mobility scooters for the mobility impaired, to golf carts for recreation and neighbourhood travel, e-bikes for able-bodied riders, and trikes and quadricycles for goods deliveries.

This world-first project can supercharge the uptake of Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) in Australia and internationally. The global LEV charging market is predicted to reach $68 billion by 2030 (Precedence Research).

LEVs provide many benefits including:

Environmental:
The transport sector is the fastest-growing source of global greenhouse emissions. In comparison to Electric Vehicles (EVs) such as Teslas, LEVs:
educe traffic congestion and energy consumption per km by a factor of 10

• Reduce resource consumption during manufacture by a factor of 50
• Reduce charging power by a factor of 100, so no expensive upgrades of the local electricity network are required. For example, 10 LEVs can be charged from a single domestic power outlet.

Social:
Each LEV occupies 1/5th to 1/10th of the road and parking space of heavy vehicles such as cars. This space can be reclaimed for healthier neighbourhoods and communities. The diversity of affordable LEVs, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, makes them accessible to all socio-economic groups for a range of tasks such as commuting, shopping, errands, recreation and deliveries, and for diverse abilities from able-bodied riders to the elderly and people with mobility impairments.

Commercial:
LEV uptake in cities (e.g. deliveries, commuting) benefits businesses through increased efficiencies and employee well-being.

OneDock is wholly designed in Melbourne and approximately 80% of the system will be fabricated and assembled locally through suppliers such as Integra Systems. OneDock’s simple, compact and robust design minimises materials use and manufacturing complexity while maximising service life and recyclability of components.

OneDock has been developed with circular design philosophy at its heart: using a majority of recyclable materials that can be disassembled and recycled at end of life, with minimal use of plastics.

With its novel attractive design, OneDock will help cement Victoria’s global reputation as a hub for smart hardware development and manufacturing.

OneDock has been developed with circular design philosophy at its heart: incorporating more than 95% recyclable materials and components that can be disassembled and recycled at end of life, with minimal use of plastics. OneDock helps drive the transition from heavy, polluting, inefficient vehicles such as cars to decentralised, light transport systems. The transport sector is the fastest-growing source of global greenhouse emissions. In comparison to Electric Vehicles (EVs) such as Teslas, LEVs:

• Reduce traffic congestion and energy consumption per km by a factor of 10
• Reduce resource consumption during manufacture by a factor of 50
• Reduce charging power by a factor of 100, so no expensive upgrades of the local electricity network are required. For example, 10 LEVs can be charged from a single domestic power outlet.