In India, where fewer than four million cars are sold annually, auto rickshaws (called tuk-tuks in other Asian countries) are one of the dominant modes of transportation. As India attempts to clean up the country’s troublesome air pollution, some manufacturers are now, for the first time, starting to power rickshaws with electricity instead of gasoline. Electric rickshaws have typically been too costly for most buyers, but one company is driving down costs by splitting the vehicle from its most expensive component, the battery.
A not quite two-year-old joint venture between electric car maker Virya Mobility 5.0 and solar power company SUN New Energy Systems, SUN Mobility is working with EV makers, providing the batteries for those vehicles. The twist is that SUN retains ownership of the batteries. When they run low, the driver heads to a SUN station and exchanges them for fresh ones, paying only for the electricity he has consumed. Not only is it cheaper for drivers to exchange their batteries, but it also costs much less time than recharging batteries.
Once upon a time, rickshaws were eco-friendly…because they were pulled by humans. Hopefully this battery-exchanging scheme can bring that eco-friendliness back to rickshaws in India.
