Green Autorickshaws An Urgent Need
TerraGreen|July 2023
In this article, Ram Ramprasad says that India can convert its 8 million autorickshaws to solar power with organic batteries by 2025 with zero reliance on the grid. This will be revolutionary.
Ram Ramprasad
Green Autorickshaws An Urgent Need

In 2016, Naveen Rabelli, a young automotive engineer had a big dream. After experimenting with three prototypes, and a lot of his own money, he finally built himself a solar-operated autorickshaw (tuk-tuk) and drove 14,000 kilometres from Bengaluru to London to create awareness on a pollution-free vehicle as well as show case his invention at a carbon free expo. At a young age, he was inspired towards a zero-emission 3-wheeler since it transported millions of people to the destinations of their choice within urban and rural India. Plus, it provided millions of jobs to drivers. Seven years have passed since Naveen’s first invention of a zero-emission 3-wheeler—his dream of India having emission-free autorickshaws that did not depend on the electric grid is yet to materialize. There are a few small developments happening such as the Mahindra Electric Mobility that recently launched its 3-wheeler, L3, that has a load capacity of 310 kg, costs USD 1920 and has a speed of 25 kph. It is useful for light cargo, but not practical for a person who drives an autorickshaw for a living. Honda Motors recently started an outfit in Bengaluru where autorickshaws could rent a lithium-ion battery. Reliance on our electric grid has still not gone away.

India currently has about 8 million autorickshaws on its roads; they are quite ubiquitous in the urban cities of India— often noisy and polluting. About, 1.5 million of these are battery operated. The combined number of two- and threewheelers in India is about 210 million—a golden opportunity to make them one hundred per cent “green”.

Strategy for Developing Green Autorickshaws

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