India shines the light on the solar-powered rickshaw

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 13 October 2008 16:51

Opinion and Analysis

People pulling around rickshaws in India could one day be a thing of the past – replaced instead with solar-powered motorised bicycle-drawn rickshaws known as the “Soleckshaw”.

Although India has tried banning human-drawn rickshaws a decade ago with little success, with other parts of India having also tried banning rickshaws for years, the rickshaw is still an everyday part of Indian life.

So, it should come as no surprise that motorising the rickshaw is one answer, with modern solar power technology another technology that blends quite nicely into modernising the rickshaw mode of travel.

Earlier this month, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt. Sheila Dikshit launched the “Soleckshaw”, a “solar-electric rickshaw for eco-friendly urban transport” developed by India’s Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) which is the national laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Being solar and pedal powered, the Soleckshaw is dubbed as a “dual-powered” solution for the “dual problem” of “decent employment generation for the masses and mitigation of global warming”.

As the Soleckshaw has a zero carbon footprint, it helps to mitigate the “60% of the increase in the green house gas (GHG) emission is from the transport sector”.

As India expects the Soleckshaw to go into “widespread use”, it expects it will help to “reverse global warming and protect the planet from the perils of climate change”.

Indeed, India doesn’t just think the Soleckshaw is for India only, its press release states that “its worldwide use would also enhance energy security by reducing the world’s dependence on limited fossil fuel”.

Also dubbed a “pedicab”, its makers promise that it is “easy to drive, both on plain as well as uphill road, without any strain of imbalance, which all of the current cycle rickshaws suffer from.”

The Mark I Soleckshaw was designed, developed and prototyped by the CMERI in only eight months, with Mark II and Mark III vesions to come.

India is hoping that an “innovative business model is being evolved with NGOs, banks, environment-loving corporates and manufacturing organizations to make the rickshaw available to the drivers at the cost of an ordinary rickshaw.”

So, what are the technical features, and when will Mark II and Mark III of the Soleckshaw appear on the market and on roads? Please read on to page 2.