We’re basically talking “artisanal e-rickshaws” here. Demand from rickshaw drivers prompted small shops to build electric rickshaws from imported components. When lead-acid batteries that could be charged with existing infrastructure got much cheaper about 15 years ago, Indians wanted in. In many ways, they are the perfect EV.īecause rickshaws require less power than your typical four-wheeled passenger car, they are simply easier and cheaper to electrify than cars. While we wait for cheaper electric cars, America shouldn’t tune out the e-rickshaw revolution. Late last week, the Treasury Department laid out specifications for EVs to be eligible for tax credits of up to $7,500-and the list of fully eligible cars is likely to be pretty short, at least for a while. Incentives that were passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act could help with that. has a ways to go before it electrifies its most popular form of transport. Compare that with the share of American passenger vehicles sold last year that were electric: just 5.8 percent. Last year, half of Indian rickshaws sold were electric, according to Shazan Siddiqi, an analyst at the market-research firm IDTechEx who wrote a roundup of the global market for “micro EVs,” which include two- and three-wheelers. As of 2021, more than one-fifth of two- and three-wheeled vehicles in China were electric. They can weave in and out of traffic in cities where a car would make little headway.Īnd they are electrifying faster than basically any other type of vehicle. Made for low speeds and urban settings, they are typically run like taxis, operated by drivers who take people and things from place to place for a fee. Rickshaws-derived from hand-pulled carts via a bicycle-based version-come in a range of styles, from fully enclosed boxes to more open options topped with a simple shade canopy. The auto rickshaw is more or less a motorcycle in the front and a party in the back in the form of benches, seats, or cargo space. Sign up for The Weekly Planet, The Atlantic’ s newsletter about living through climate change, here.Īcross Asia, many daily trips are made on three wheels.
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