Turning a daily struggle into a brilliant innovation, Rajapu Siddu, an Intermediate second-year MPC student from Jadavari Kottavalasa village in Therlam mandal of Vizianagaram, has built a battery-powered electric cycle to reach his college in Rajam, 17 km away.

Siddu’s journey began with hardship. In his first year, he had to walk 3 km to reach the main road before catching a bus or auto to college — a tiring and expensive ordeal that cost him ₹60 daily. With his parents working in Chennai, Siddu and his sister Deepika, a Class 10 student at Perumali Government High School, live with their grandmother.

Determined to find a solution, Siddu put his summer vacation to good use. Drawing from the robotics training he received at the Atal Tinkering Laboratory (ATL) in Perumali High School from Classes 6 to 10, he set out to build an electric bicycle. With guidance from his former teacher Y Eswara Rao and help from his classmate Jaggupalli Rajesh, Siddu sourced parts online from Delhi and Rajasthan and assembled the e-cycle for ₹35,000.

The result: a sleek cycle with three gears — maxing out at 50 kmph — powered by a hub motor and accelerator. It can carry up to 120 kg, run 80 km on a single charge, and costs only ₹6 a day to operate.

His mentors hope a design unit will step in to refine and upgrade his promising prototype.