Do you see where I am seated?
This is what we bring you on this episode of R&D Africa on AAU TV.
The spotlight has been put on the young Lawrence Adjei, who has been able to make
this electronic motorcycle from dead laptop batteries.
Stay tuned.
We'll bring you more.
In an era where environmental protection, fitness and green travel are increasingly
being valued and practiced by people, what
comes to mind when transportation that allows
you to avoid road traffic congestion, be green
and environmentally friendly is mentioned.
Electric bicycles or e-bikes are equipped with electric
devices activated to assist or replace peddling.
They provide a number of benefits.
They are fuel efficient, faster, reduces
traffic congestion and are mostly non-pollutant.
Inventors mainly rely on batteries such as lithium-ion, nickel-cadmium, lithium-cobalt
batteries, lead acid, nickel-metal hydrate, lithium-manganese
and lithium-ion polymer batteries as the accessories.
Interestingly, a young Ghanaian, Lawrence Adjei
has added to the innovations in the electric bike industry.
He uses sports laptop batteries, which he
purchases from scrap yards and computer shops in Accra to make his unique e-bikes.
He is known to be the first Ghanaian to make
electric bicycles from sports laptop batteries and he is self-taught.
I stay close to Lawrence and I happen to be his co-helper.
This is not my first time riding.
I've been riding for two years now.
The experience is different.
I can't even compare because riding a normal
bicycle is full of pain and then you actually
admire the kind of kilometers you need to go.
So this is really different compared to the ones I have ever used.
This has three gears and then the others don't.
It has a brake which charges the battery back when applying, the others don't have.
It has a USB spot which you can charge your phone
or use a USB light which the others don't have.
And then it also has a bell, the others don't have a bell.
And then the brakes are instant stop.
They stop instantly.
Coming to the battery, it has a large capacity
which you can even give a house a light.
This is where Mr. Lawrence AJ makes all the inventions.
This is where the creation of electric bicycles
made out of dead laptop batteries happens.
I'm currently here with Mr. Lawrence.
Take us through the process involved in the
usage of these batteries to make the electric bicycle.
So you have the batteries here.
You just crack them like this.
You sometimes bend it or use a plier.
You can see that we don't use all the cells.
This one is here, the bud.
-Okay -You can't use this one.
You find a different one.
-Try another one.
Same.
Okay
So you take the motherboard of the battery.
Then take the cell out like this.
So in total, how many of these do you need?
I need a lot.
But I only have 6 batteries here.
Then you test it with the voltmeter to see whether they have some voltage inside.
What is the average voltage you need in the batteries?
I think like 2.5 volts.
2.5 volts fine.
Okay
So then we come here and test with this machine.
This one is called Opus.
This one does the capacity testing.
So you place the cells inside like this.
So you can see it charging.
It will charge the batteries for like 2 hours, maybe 3 hours.
After that, the machine will discharge the battery and give you the capacity.
-Okay -Then we take it off.
Then we write the capacity on it.
Comparing the other things to, you have a Bluetooth
device in it which you can use to program your phone.
So imagine I'm going on a high speed, you can just drop
it on your phone and then it will drop automatically.
It doesn't matter the acceleration.
For the other bikes, they don't have reverse.
You just need to push them back like this.
But then this one has a reverse.
So there is no need.
When the key is on, you just push the button and then you accelerate.
It doesn't accelerate like you're on a top
speed, but it's very strong and it takes you back slowly.
No matter what obstacle, it will take you back slowly.
I think this is all about.
For the other bikes, we do have front shocks.
And then, front shocks, talking about this one, this is filled with air.
It's different from the other one.
The other one is a little air, but more of oil.
But then this one is air, so you stop instantly.
And you see for the back too.
It's also different for the back.
Actually, the other bikes, when you are riding
and then you pass through a pothole, you feel some pains in your waist.
But then this one, you don't feel.
You just go through and then you're okay.
So anytime you are riding this bike, it makes
you feel like go more, go more, go more.
It's really nice to have one of these bikes.
My name is AJ Lawrence.
I live in Kaswa in the central region of Ghana.
At age 11, when Lawrence discovered his talent,
he acquainted himself with playing with electronic gadgets such as computers.
A year after his interest in that field grew,
he picked up the mantle of repairing bicycles.
Until date, he still repairs a number of bikes.
So far, Lawrence has made and sold four e-bikes made by himself.
Current bicycle presents upgraded features from the ones he has made in the past.
Professor Jay looks forward to contacting
universities for collaborations and partnerships
in order to take his innovative ideas to the next level.
He has dreams of using solar to propel his bikes in future, but needs collaborations
and partnerships with universities and technical
institutions to scale up production from prototype
to commercialization.
In such partnerships, he seeks to train technical
students to improve their knowledge on electronics.
I have a question.
So this experiment only works when you are using the spot
or dead laptop batteries or you can use brand new ones.
You can use brand new ones for sure.
Okay.
So now on charging the bicycle, how is it charged?
It's charged with this charger here.
This one is a custom built charger.
It's not like the normal charger.
It will take like maybe 12 hours, 6 hours to charge.
Okay.
This one does around like 3 hours.
Okay.
And did you make it yourself?
Yes.
I bought the parts.
Okay.
So with the parts that you worked on, can you run us briefly
through the process, how you came to that conclusion?
For this one, it's a server power supply.
Okay.
It's in light service.
You know, light service, they have a lot of computers inside.
So they have very good processor.
And this one here is called step up converter
Okay
So if you take 3 volts and pass
Then it coverts you to 84 volts
Okay
Now on the features of your bike
What features does your bicycle have that ones in the market do not have?
This one has everything programmable.
You can choose the programm that work on your phone.
Okay, okay.
It also has like phone charging to charge your phones.
It also has Evergine brake.
That means when you hit a break it charges a bike
So like you don't try to use like Venoma Veperse to stop when you hit a break
It does it instantly in a break
How do you respond to support this project?
How have you been doing it?
Believing in myself.
Okay, so my challenges when I was working on a bike
was, at first I didn't have a welding machine and a spray machine.
So I take it to welders and sprayers.
But they take your money and they wouldn't do the work.
I decided to buy the welding machine and the spray machine.
Then started learning welding and spraying myself.
So it took me like a week or two to learn all.
Sometimes my friends always discouraging me
that it won't work and you're always wasting
your time on this thing, go find a job and get some money.
My challenges about financing is like sometimes
I don't really get the money in bulk to buy the parts.
So like I'll buy one maybe this month, the
next month I'll buy the one and they all like
take shipments, which like is a lot of cost.
So when I get like funds to buy them in bulk, I think it will help the process.
Lawrence intends to set up a permanent working
place for himself, create employment for
interested inventors and give back to society.
Lawrence Adjei is not only putting the African
continent on the map, he has also distinguished.
himself as one of the many undiscovered great
minds in Africa who can do more with a little push.
This is where we end this interesting, revealing
and educative episode of R&D Africa on AAU TV.
Don't forget that next time the spotlight could be put on you.
So if you have any innovations or inventions
out there, contact AAU TV and we'll be at your doorstep.
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our social media platforms for more content.
My name is Maame Ekua Otuakoa Nyame.
Until next time, it's a wrap!
[Music].