[iamahunter]

I have never seen one in Mumbai, but on my recent visit to Amritsar I saw many of them. Because of their small size they can be easily driven in small lanes near the Golden Temple area. I got a chance to ride in one, they are absolutely smooth and make very less sound, only sound you hear is the electric motor hissing.
We were 6 on-board(including the driver) and the rickshaw did not struggle to move on the flat roads. However it did struggle on a slight climb, but eventually did it.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

I have never seen one in Mumbai

I believe they are currently not permitted in Mumbai. However, I did read some news that the authorities are considering changing their stance.

[extreme_torque]

I shudder to imagine the environmental impact! What are we doing with all those discarded batteries? If they are just being dumped to a land fill, all the dangerous chemicals and acids are going to go into the soil and eventually into groundwater making it dangerous to drink to be used anywhere else.

[n.devdath]

Bangalore, like Bombay doesn't have them yet, because we do not have the "share auto" concept legally permitted, however, there are concrete plans in place to bring them here, and like all the others who have seen them operate in other cities and hate them for various reasons, I do so too.

This thread can be a poll titled "E-Rickshaws: Love them or Loathe them??"

It would make it more meaningful.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

But they are God send for the lower middle class and the economically deprived sections of urban society providing them with affordable last mile connectivity and probably saving many of their passengers half an hour or more each trip [versus legging it]. Of course they add to our traffic chaos but us rich folks should remind ourselves that we the car owners are the road hoggers in this country and not the e-rickshaws or the buses.

With due respect to your opinion sir, the main problem we have here (I don't know about Delhi/NCR) in most of the Tier-II cities like ours, they start and stop anywhere on the road on the whims and fancies of the passengers for loading and unloading without any regard to other traffic on road. While there are designated stands for auto/e-carts, but since they are now in large numbers, they occupy most of the road while parked in stands/ waiting for pax. And they are brave enough to drive on the wrong side of the road showing total disregard to the rules.

Compare this to the cars owners, I think you will agree that most of them do not share these traits. It will certainly be welcoming if the e-rick drivers show at least the basic driving sense; but in a rush of getting passengers, they seldom follow that and that is the main problem with them.

I agree that they are convenient for many, so much that a few years ago I drove to a place called 'Purulia' in WB. My wife, who is a shopaholic (like most of the women) decided to get some sarees for her from the market; since this place is famous for sarees. Now looking at the condition of the e-cart crowd in the town, we parked the car some 2 kms away and took the e-cart ourselves because of the convenience!

Regards,
Saket.

[tacho9000]

Come down to Kolkata suburbs and generally entire West Bengal and you will see a craptonne of these contraptions running around on the roads even on the highways running through the suburbs. It makes for terrible traffic management and block of the vehicles on the road at times.

Regards,
Subhra

[findviru]

I feel there should be proper regulation for any vehicle irrespective of its speed. E-rickshaw is not a bicycle. It carries passengers and there is a safety aspect to it. No registration or license requirement means anyone can run it as per his/her wish. Government should regulate its design, safety requirement and certification like ARAI. Running a contraption on roads is dangerous for all road users.

[Anwesh]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

They are unsafe and they are driven around, like auto rickshaws, with no concern for a drop of traffic sense. But they are God send for the lower middle class and the economically deprived sections of urban society providing them with affordable last mile connectivity and probably saving many of their passengers half an hour or more each trip [versus legging it]. Of course they add to our traffic chaos but us rich folks should remind ourselves that we the car owners are the road hoggers in this country and not the e-rickshaws or the buses.

PS: Quite likely a view that will tickle the irritation buds of car lovers because we believe the roads are meant only for us.

It is unlikely that e riks shall give affordable and cheaper public transportation. When CNG was introduced to replace petrol in rikshaws and taxis, the benefit of cheper fuel was given completely to the drivers and operators. The published reason was that they have to recover the investment in kits. The same reson would be given for e riks and the fares would be same The actual reason is that they have strong union that shall make the government dance to their tune. Today in Mumbai and surrounding areas we pay by meter for CNG fueled Rik and that comes to minimum Rs. 11 per km. This is much costlier than app based taxi and even using a self owned car.

Auto rikshaws are free riders on our infrastructure and there should be a time bound program to phase them out.

Regards,

[saket77]

Talking about 'fares', here in Ranchi, these e-rickshaws charge a flat Rs. 10/- per head for a ride. Most e-carts ply to a max of 2-2.5kms here, so on an average you pay Rs. 5/- per km (per head). This is a newly found lucrative self-employment option here and many young guys can be seen driving one.

That said, I wonder how these thousands of discarded batteries will be disposed when the time comes. Although I think that lithium-ion batteries are NOT classified as environment hazard and are safe to be disposed through the normal waste disposal system.

But one can contaminate ground water through any waste/ chemical.

Edit: Can anyone confirm if these old discarded lithium ion batteries are bought back by battery manufacturers like lead-acid batteries?

Thanks!

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by saket77

Edit: Can anyone confirm if these old discarded lithium ion batteries are bought back by battery manufacturers like lead-acid batteries?

Thanks!

Correct me if I am wrong, but from whatever I read, these e-rickshaws are having lead acid batteries.

Coming to Lithium Ion batteries, they also can be recycled. Based on many Tesla examples (taxi fleet by companies like Tesloop), battery degradation is around 12% even after 300,000 miles (482,000 kms) of usage. After 100,000 miles the battery degradation is plateaued. Even if these batteries are not recycled, they can be used for other purposes such as home or commercial storage.

[Zappo]

Considering the amount of confusion and cacophony prevailing around these "contraptions" let me see if I can answer some of the questions

* Where are these millions being sold? I don't see any down south...

Ans - These things now have almost pan India presence. Any tier-II city as well as many major cities and towns like Jaipur, Agra, NCR, Kolkata... You name it and these cities have them. However, they do not exist anywhere in south or even in Mumbai.

* These do not look like EVs at all and these junk look risky to get into

Ans - Well, these are not EV in real sense to begin with. They are e-Rickshaws or electric rickshaws. Now do not confuse them with autorickshaws. Many parts of India have always had pedalled rickshaws. These e-Ricks are a replacement for such rickshaws. While those could more often not sit more than 2 people at a time and had an uncomfortable forward slant, these ones are bigger, wider and flat floored in comparison. So in that aspect these are better and safer. Even for the driver it is non laborious when compared to pedalled rickshaws. We probably will never see these e-Rickshaws in cities and towns which traditionally never had the pedalled rickshaws because those old rickshaws are mainly getting replaced with these e-Ricks.

* Environment impact of e-Rickshaws

Ans- Saying that it gives one jitters to think how the rampant adoption of these will affect the environment as batteries are harmful things whose disposition needs care is really a self defeating reasoning. We can always take umbrage to the negatives for every thing in the world. However, if EVs are being stressed upon by the government then the same fear should apply to their adoption as well. eScooters, eBikes, eCars they all should scare us because they all use batteries. For that matter, batteries in regular vehicles, inverters everything pose the same challenge. And when you add the batteries in these millions of vehicles, devices like inverter etc. across the country then such a risk probably will appear far bigger than a few e-Rickshaws. However, in real life, when you go for a new battery you get a very good price for the old one and I am not very sure why will someone want to give up on that and dispose off the old batteries by throwing them in a landfill etc. The old batteries so taken back by these dealers are sent for recycling.

Originally Posted by sri_tesla

Correct me if I am wrong, but from whatever I read, these e-rickshaws are having lead acid batteries.

Absolutely right... They use the regular batteries connected in series.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

I shudder to imagine the environmental impact! What are we doing with all those discarded batteries? If they are just being dumped to a land fill, all the dangerous chemicals and acids are going to go into the soil and eventually into groundwater making it dangerous to drink to be used anywhere else.

They will be disposed off with the same safety or carelessness as the current around 50 million batteries in cars and another lot in the ~10 million trucks and buses. And of course we forgot about the millions of batteries in inverters all across power hungry states. Why is it that disposal of batteries becomes a concern on T-BHP when a transport for the poor is in question but is rarely brought up with regard to our cars. Up to this point have you ever written about your concern that your car's battery is one day going to contaminate the ground water. It is a real problem no doubt but lets not wear our feudal cloak.

[blackasta]

Kolkata, suburbs and almost every town in Bangla have these. We call them 'Toto' (with a hard T) !
Don't know about other places, but the municipal area where I stay laid out the rule that they cannot ply on the main roads, only in lanes providing last mile connectivity (which they regularly flout, and even get on national highways)

Also, in the past, they were built to a variety of standards owing to a lack of definition of the same, but after GOI laid out the E-rickshaw norms, the one's plying have to get commercial plates + registration + road tax + municipality fee. Plus the drivers got to have license (unsure if 2/3 wheeler and if its personal/commercial).

Got to know these facts from an owner-driver who came to get his HSRP fixed (and there were atleast 20-30 more) at the same RTO as mine when I went there for the same purpose.

Edit: I shall try and post a snap of one of them with HSRP if I can find one in an opportune moment.

[vivek95]

I think I am the odd man out here, but those otherwise wierd looking rickshaws are so open and airy. I would love to take a ride in such vehicles as they seem a nice option to explore a new city than our cages. ( of course walking down the streets is my most preferred option anyday )

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

PS: Quite likely a view that will tickle the irritation buds of car lovers because we believe the roads are meant only for us.

I agree with you. I am amazed when people report about how irritating the bikers are on highways even if they are moving slow in the left most lane or shoulder lanes. People who frequent NH4 Kolhapur--Pune sector would be aware of this superiority complex exhibited by four wheeler owners. Except access controlled expressways, nowhere is it written that bikers cannot used the dual carriageways

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

The only EVs I have seen in Pune are much smaller versions of these that are parked more than they are operational, and are more of a political propaganda (to highlight a politician's gift for the benefit of common man) than of use.

Its good to read that the earliest players in the electric rickshaw market viz. the Chinese brands ( I don't remember any of their names) who dominated the scene are overpowered by Mahindra and Kinetic. The market needs to be in the hands of the branded companies. My acquaintance had a dealership for such a Chinese make. He would get kits from which these would be assembled. And he gave up on declining sales. It would cost Rs 1.25 L about eight years back. But no bank was providing any loan for the purchase then.

Come this above cited politician to the scene, his very close friend had a dealership, where the politician would drop in at times. Rather than "helping" the poor, he helped his friend and his dealership with e-rickshaw friendly policies and soon the future became very electrifying and bright.

Come 2014-15, Delhi roads were flooded with these e-rickshaws. Also, many other cities encouraged the e-rickshaws and it was clear that these have arrived.

Apart from causing traffic bottlenecks, these are extremely unsafe and in case of an impact, the fate of the occupants is anybody's guess ! If at all these are encouraged, there should be separate zones in every city created where these can ply. These should not be allowed to ply on any and every city road. There should be a separate slow lane to the extreme left of the road , where these should be allowed to ply and violations should be penalised.

These have proliferated on a large scale, but there is no white paper or Act of Parlaiment which governs their manufacture, safety norms, usage and traffic issues concerning these. The only existing laws if any, are state laws (only in a state or two) and some cities, where the traffic authorities have listed some guidelines for e-rickshaws.