Well.. that's India... the modern day wild wild west where anything goes.
Have to give them credit for being very enterprising in general and willing to break any rule to get where they want to be.
20
Like to know the arthritis treatment e-taxi driver
Sanjeet bought for his wife that allowed her to walk and use her hands again.
3
She was most likely put on a class of medications that inhibit TNF-alpha; commonly used in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. They are fairly costly here in the US.
7
Anything in India would look messy to the western eye. With everything handed over in neat packagings here, you instinctively look in the outside cover and make your judgement on the inner contents before even opening it. I am disgusted with the negative spin in the title and the first part of the article.
If this happened here, it would have been hailed by your paper as a grassroots revolution.
52
What type of battery are they using? Lead acid batteries vent sulfuric acid. Not good for the lungs.
2
@JoeG Still better than the two and four stroke engines used today. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good, when perfect is years out and good is literally today .
32
@JoeG
Lead acid batteries do not vent gasses when being discharged, much less sulfuric acid. They can vent hydrogen when being charged however, which in an enclose space is explosive and could cause a battery to blow up and spew acid everywhere.
8
I remember reading an article a few years back, the thesis of which was that technology thrusts in western nations do not meet the real needs of less wealthy areas. It cited as an example the need to come up with a better rickshaw.
Well, it appears that this need is finally in the process of being met. Good for the beneficiaries.
19
"the second-largest collection of electric vehicles in the world" all run by Adani's e-Coal - how trumpian!
As "E-rickshaws reduce air pollution" in one place it generates Adani-style soot choking pollution elsewhere - how trumpian!
Solar power to recharge batteries in an ever increasing solar baked country is out of the question as skies darken with Adani's government subsidized coal-fired soot. - how trumpian!
All that lead in those batteries will do wonders for what little water of any kind is left in India - how very trumpian!
So trumpian, in fact, that trump should simply buy India.
9
So you would blame the poor folks over the dirty power generation process?
3
@HSN
No, HSN. I blame the capitalists at the top milking the small people out of their hard earned taxes to subsidize their polluting coal power generating plans and coal mines in Australia and elsewhere owned by the likes of Adani - see excellent NY Times report at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/climate/coal-adani-india-australia.html
These capitalists should be investing in sustainable power systems like solar and wind - plenty of both in India - and use the tax revenue to subsidize non-toxic battery technologies instead. Adani should be put out of business for the sake of everyone's health and lives.
21
What an environmental nightmare!
1
US is the number 1 environmental nightmare, even before Trump. It is US that introduced the plastics and use and throw culture to rest of the world. It is the US with literally one car per person and a McMansion for a family of 3 that set the record for per capita carbon emission.
Remove the log from your eye before complaining about the dust in someone else's eyes.
50
Necessity is the mother of invention
9
Let’s hear it for the enterprising creativity of those Indians. The common man finds a solution without waiting for the government bureaucracy to muddle about.
Sure brings back memories of my travel adventures in 1970s New Delhi!
23
“This is good for the earth,” said Rajiv Kumar, the vice chairman of Niti Aayog, the agency spearheading the plan.
True to the extent that India can put modern pollution controls on its coal power plants, freeze the construction thereof, and put more renewables on the grid. But, these e-rickshaws are a good first step. I wish the video of the drive down the street in an e-rickshaw had sound, since I remember standing on a Beijing corner and listening to the peaceful, almost meditative quietness of electric scooters and electric bicycles rolling past me.
15
Over a hundred years ago, when powered vehicles were first getting started, battery-powered cars were competing with steam and gasoline. Edison had patented a nickel-iron battery.
https://electricvehiclesnews.com/History/historyearlyIV.htm
It's good to see that the second time around, electric transportation is beginning to grow. I'm hoping that smart manufacturers world-wide realize that as India, many African nations and other developing countries grow, the combination of battery-powered transportation and renewable sources will improve their economies without the pollution that follows internal combustion engines everywhere.
8
@b fagan
Considering most of the country wasn't electrified, how?
2
In my tiny town, several residents are using electric golf carts to get around town, which is obviously illegal but local government is not enforcing, which is fine with me. They are cleaner and quieter. As a retiree, I usually ride my bicycle for short trips but the day will come when I'm not physically able to do that or have the vision and reflexes to drive a car safely for all concerned. As for safety, it's the mix of vehicles that poses the greatest risk, whether it's different weights of traditional bicycles and motorcycles now sharing the road with cars and trucks or the speed of those vehicles. In low-speed limit zones for local travel, e-rickshaws (golf carts) should not only be allowed but encouraged!
15
@abigail49
Sun City, in Arizona, allows golf carts on the roads of the sprawling development/town. It's primarily a retirement community and the carts work very well.
8
In Central Park here in NYC they still just peddle tourists around for 5 dollars a minute. I've never seen anything fun or charming or efficient about having a man work like a dog so I can sit in a chair. At least go electric!
12
The Indian government needs to do their jobs. There is an Opportunity for the government of India to update their infrastructure by building smart all electric trains with rechargeable solar panels. Obviously all over the country should put solar panels on the street lights and lamps in a nutshell I believe India could do far better than china infrastructure in less than half the time cause they are smarter.
5
@George
At ~150W per square meter, you're not going to see a train powered by 15% efficient solar panels. Same reason you're not going to see cars (or even street lamps) powered by a solar panel on top, either. There's just not enough solar energy falling on the Earth's surface (~1000W per square meter) for mobile vehicle applications to harvest it directly with current (and foreseeable) PV technologies. Large, distributed, PV arrays are still the way to go.
My two EVs are powered by the sun, but they get their energy from the 5kW array on my roof.
9
@George Indian trains are already all electric. There's an interesting dynamic when entering Mumbai in a train, because the Mumbai rail system runs on DC power, while the rest of the country is on AC power (or vice versa), and so they have to change the engine.
They don't need to plant solar panels on the trains themselves, which wouldn't be efficient at all, and would require much more, and more expensive maintenance. All that is needed is to make solar and wind powers the dominant source of electric generation feeding into the grid, to achieve solar train travel.
9
Not to worry, the Indian government has stepped in. They will ban all the electric vehicles and hand over a competition-free environment to their cronies; who will in turn simply run an import agency, selling the likes of Tesla for a handsome profit. When Tesla is ready to sell off their outdated technology, these importers will turn manufacturers, using the old Tesla technology and there will be another story in media about the success of the electric vehicle industry in India.
8
The days of ICE are numbered. For very good reasons this is welcome. And this will happen suddenly a we can see in the case of E-rickshaws. Mankind will accept as always new technologies if that are better and at the same time economically cheaper. When prices of batteries which will power Electric vehicles drop - which will happen on accelerated pace as has been the case of all electronic items- ICE will also vanish.
7
I hope to see ICE vanish before ice does.
8
This is a step in the right direction for India. The e- rickshaws are better for the environment, and they are cheap and convienent. The world needs to follow India's lead and make all public transportation electric. This would be a major step against climate change.
15
@Griffin Worst
The world needs to follow India's lead? The real problem is that public transportation is completely inadequate. E-rickshaws are an improvement for India, but its dependence on rickshaws is a major problem in itself.
5
Whatever the vehicle, driving in Delhi
is a challenge. Usually there is a traffic jam and the drivers try to squeeze into
any slightly open space even in the wrong lane. The result is chaotic traffic which along with everyone blowing horn
becomes nerve wrecking. Prayers
do help in reaching the destination safely. Imagine a person having heart
attack ,get caught up in this traffic
frenzy on the way to the hospital.The chance of survival is lessened considerably.
9
@s.khan
But that's the way of life; and traffic in every major city in India. Unfortunately, as the middle class incomes go up, people are finding that they can afford to buy a car (and doing so), notwithstanding that the road infrastructure cannot support the additional weight and volume inserted by this contraption, compared to that of a scooter/motor bike, which was the preferred means of commute until recently.
In this mix, auto rickshaws which were until recently powered by gasoline, and then slowly converted to natural gas, and now to batteries provide a useful and practical solution.
The ever increasing metro transportation is helping the situation some, by reducing the overall number of vehicles on the road.
The traffic in India is organized chaos. It will be so for another generation. until the overall infrastructure improves substantially. I have some hope.
4
The US needs to follow India's lead. We still sell gasoline powered motorcycles and motor scooters (mopeds) that are noisy and polluting. They ought to be the first to go.
Next, we could use more 1-2 person rickshaws here. Here they would need A/C and a suspension. But set the price at half that of a Lyft sedan, keep them in the downtown core rather than longer trip to the suburbs, and they would take off.
We need to see ICE (internal combustion engines) as just as bad as the other ICE (immigration and customs control).
And do not listen to the right wing media that complains about the source of electricity. It is being cleaned up rapidly, as coal goes out of business and is replaced by wind and solar...while the same right wing media complain about THAT as well! (And even the worst power companies in the US, like Dominion Energy and FPL, are about 50% coal, which makes them about 25% as polluting as an ICE.)
10
I have seen this transformation from manual rickshaw's to sleek battery operated rickshaw's in my native home town in India.
Great job India. Make technology available, the people will do the rest.
56
I do agree that using e-rickshaws is a feasible way to deal with pollution, especially in polluted places like Delhi. Yet, there are problems when it comes to the safety of the rickshaw and the disposal of the batteries. The government has to legislate and set rules on the design of e-rickshaws. With the current design, one could easily see the potential dangers associated with it. Furthermore, legislation has to be made on the quality and the disposal of such batteries. Untreated batteries could potentially pollute water resources and the environment, which contradicts its primary purpose of dealing with pollution. The government has to take the initiative and further address pollution with laws and regulations.
16
The article should note that so much of India is really unsafe for pedestrians, and lots of people take e-rickshaws very short distances because it's so difficult and hazardous to travel anywhere on foot. The woman taking the e-rickshaw from the metro station to her home says the rickshaw "isn't safe," but the reason she takes it might very well be that it's safer than walking. Lots of areas it's dangerous to even try to find a break in traffic to cross the street. I think India needs more sidewalks and crosswalks before they need more electric vehicles.
44
@Tacony Palmyra so true. I have been there multiple times in the last few years and never walk anywhere. There are barely any sidewalks at all.
8
@Tacony Palmyra
Would also be good if vehicles would not drive on the sidewalks. Saw that multiple times a day.
3
E-rickshaws are a leap forward. But to really feel good about e-ricks, the world needs a better battery. Lead acid struggles in warm weather; lithium is expensive and prone to explosion. Both are terrible for the environment. Zinc air is probably the future.
Companies like Nant Energy and AZA Battery are building electrically rechargeable zinc air batteries that are cheaper safer and greener. And if zinc air takes off there's a bonus for India: the largest zinc mine in the world is in Rajasthan.
37
@Justin Szlasa
Combine standardized zinc air batteries with automated battery swapping and you get clean electric vehicles that will replace conventional ICE vehicles on a global scale quickly and at low cost.
1
@BruceM Exactly. Energy storage is the single biggest obstacle to mass adoption of electronic vehicles (and decarbonizing our power grid). If you solve the battery problem, it will happen fast. But we need a new path: lead battery chemistry is 100+ years old; lithium is mature and has been pushed far (e.g. Tesla). This isn't a problem that will be solved over a weekend by two sophomores drinking Red Bull in a dorm in Palo Alto; innovation in materials science takes time and is hard-won. To bring a new battery chemistry to market at scale, it will take a contrarian with vision, intelligence, tenacity, and luck. That's what I see at the handful of companies doing zinc air.
4
@Justin Szlasa
There is an article in the NY TImes today about ionic salt superconductors as another possible replacement for Li batteries.
1
Great article. The photo with the giant standard bus amidst all the e-trolleys should be a wake up call for our supposedly innovative American companies and city planners. I am reminded of older pictures of Chinese roads, filled with bicycles, not cars. And of a trip to Disney World, where you parked in massive lots, but a trolley circulated every 5-10 minutes to take you into the main buildings.
Bicycles, e-bicycles, e-scooters, need their own, wide lanes- not the tiny, narrow, dangerous afterthought lanes next to urban traffic.
I dream of a state, or even a county that will encourage electric transportation options, subsidize small organic-only agriculture, rural mini-factories....imagine the labeling advantages for sales. Anywhere County peaches- grocery shoppers would know their origin, reliability. And here, living in a city with these e-transit options....would we even need a car/gas/insurance/upkeep expenses?
Waiting for capitalism - and waiting....
9
@Jo Williams
Waiting for capitalism??
Here in the US capitalism destroyed mass transit so people would be forced to buy cars, and see their tax dollars go to endless miles of concrete overpasses, by passes, underpasses, right thru established middle class inner city neighborhoods. This enforced the endless outposts of civilization called the suburbs where there is so little neighborhood of small business and parks that it is the new wasteland.
The drive in is now so long that inner cities properties have become desirable again, city councils are permitting multi housing in formerly restricted single home areas, and count yourself lucky if the city had previously bit the bullet and created light rail beforehand.
We also had a dream of planned cities, walking downtowns, parks, gardens, industry on the outside ring, but the excitement always ends there.
We here in the US have actually patterened ourselves after successful usages of countries like India. Why do you think the push was for Uber? Get people to use their cars like India. Much more congestion but no public anger about lack of bus and rail.
A true innovation would be using the miles of concrete roadway for public rail but the driverless semis now have precedence. Our main throughfares, even in very small towns, and at designated crosswalks under a green light, are almost impossible to cross safely.
3
But aren't India's current and proposed electrical power generating stations mainly coal fired . . ? Has the net loss or increase in carbon, lead and mercury pollution been estimated?
8
@William : India has coal fired or thermal, hydro and nuclear power stations mainly. I don’t know the exact ratio though. Other means of power generation being solar, oil fired etc.
The coal fired power stations are a huge problem in terms of efficiency and pollution. It’s no exception in America even.
5
@William
Coal fired plants are a big, big global problem, but local air pollution by particulate matter, O3, and oxides of nitrogen is a very serious health hazard, so switching from two or four stroke engines to electrical motors can be an important environmental improvement for residents of polluted cities, even if global CO2 pollution is unaffected.
Change like this -- arising from changes in technology combined with old-fashioned self interest -- make me a little bit optimistic about the future of our species.
19
@William - India has moved into fifth place globally for wind power generation and is rapidly deploying solar, too.
Solar is cheaper than new coal plants there, and having energy sources that don't tie the country to imported fuel improves security, too.
https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/india-cancels-mega-plans-to-build-coal-power-stations-due-to-falling-solar-energy-prices-322553.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2018/01/30/india-coal-power-is-about-to-crash-65-of-existing-coal-costs-more-than-new-wind-and-solar/#34ab3de74c0f
3
Air pollution in New Delhi is a serious health hazard. Any move towards electric vehicles is welcome.
20
Be nice to have something like that here to supplement our sketchy bus service.
8
A great story with very vivid photos.
I spend winters in Mumbai but live in part of the city where rickshaws are banned.
So, I have not seen any of these e-rikshaws.
But this sentence brought to me the uniqueness of India:
"...Sanjeet Kumar drives an e-rickshaw during rush hours as a sideline to his main job: selling ayurvedic medicine. ..."
If it were not for this struggling man to succeed - this could be straight out of old SNL sketch.
SNL would have this driver at a traffic stop (or red light as they say in India) - opening a briefcase offering to sell medicine and haggle over prices - while everyone around him is honking.
And as the article rightly points out about stealing electricity - the problem in India is also the acute shortage of electricity itself - and with outdated transmission systems.
21
A great story with very vivid photos.
I spend winters in Mumbai but live in part of the city where rickshaws are banned.
So, I have not seen any of these e-rikshaws.
But this sentence brought to me the uniqueness of India:
"...Sanjeet Kumar drives an e-rickshaw during rush hours as a sideline to his main job: selling ayurvedic medicine. ..."
If it were not for this struggling man to succeed - this could be straight out of old SNL sketch.
SNL would have this driver at a traffic stop (or red light as they say in India) - opening a briefcase offering to sell medicine and haggle over prices - while everyone around him is honking.
And as the article rightly points out about stealing electricity - the problem in India is also the acute shortage of electricity itself - and with outdated transmission systems.
1
Yes, locally speaking they are reducing pollution. But the biggest concern is the lead acid battery which is poorly recycled - I strongly suggest you visit one of the local factories anywhere in India. Fortunately unlike the leaded fuel, here the lead stays in the local mud.
6
Such memories. Seeing, but not taking, hand pulled rickshaws in Kolkata (Calcutta). Riding around Varanasi (Benares) for two days with my hustling, but most amiable, driver with his "Helicopter". He even scored a couple of beers for me. And now these lovely BMWs of the rickshaw biz. Well, lovely in the factory at least.
They form a very significant display of urban travel technology of three centuries: 19th, 20th, 21st. And all now working on the streets simultaneously!
11
Another great and informing article from the Times.
Hopefully this technology will make its way to Nigeria quickly.
35
Anything to help with pollution. Shanghai has so many of these. Another benefit is reduction in noise pollution. At least if you can get Indians off their horns. Indians learn how to drive with one hand on the steering wheel, the second on the horn and the Natraj like mysterious hand shifting gears. Throw in another hand on the cellphone and maybe one for a cigarette or drink. No wonder there are so many road accidents in India. The roads are a threat to both pedestrians and drivers.
37
@Nevdeep Gill
I love the mysterious hand of Natraj.
But to your greater point, yes, driving in Delhi or elsewhere in North India is not for the weak of heart. Even a super-Natraj with twice as many hands could not impose discipline on it. The underlying problem is the huge overpopulation. An India with half as many people would run twice as fast.
18
@Nevdeep Gill
Ha Ha, Yes!
I remember sitting in the front seat and being absolutely petrified. Somehow,mysteriously, everything works out, even when your driver is playing chicken with a big bus whilst simultaneously on his cell phone.
4
Necessity is the mother of invention, a need being filled by ingenuity. Where are the corporations? Oh the humanity!
I’m sure some of these entrepreneurs discovered free electric from solar panels driving costs down.
13
Million e - richshaws seem to be a lot of exaggeration. I haven’t seen any e - rickshaw in Hyderabad at all. Of course this article purely mentions New Delhi wherein hundred thousand such vehicles will be too many forget a million. It would have been better if other places in India where e - rickshaws are used were to be mentioned.
These rickshaws don’t run fast. As such they are definitely not accident prone. However navigating in heavy traffic is quite a task. There are plenty of such rickshaws in Hyderabad operated by Petrol, Diesel or Gas. They are called share autos and quite economical to travel and cheap but definitely not that convenient as far as sitting comfort is concerned. Further they don’t take passengers to their destination but drop them mainly on the main roads or the nearest points.
A passenger, who needs some privacy and comfort can prefer hiring Auto orTaxi individually, which is definitely expensive for common man but plenty of middle class people can afford and do hire them.
The biggest problem with Petrol and Diesel vehicles is pollution. Due to population explosion, this pollution literally suffocates people, whoever dare to venture out. E - rickshaws help in reduction of pollution greatly.
Lack of regulation in India is another major headache on account of corruption. Someone definitely needs to handle the things firmly with iron hand in all departments in India.
10
@Sivaram Pochiraju I took Uber automobiles (sedans) regularly during my trip last year to Mumbai.
1