Transforming Indian Mobility – E-Rickshaw & E-Cart

Adapt Motors Pioneer

The e-rickshaw and e-cart have gained a lot of popularity in India as a mode of transportation for short trips. The market is going to expand further going ahead as e-rickshaws and e-carts are affordable and environmental friendly. The e-rickshaw or e-cart is a battery operated vehicle. It is also known as tuk -tuk. The batteries are charged from any wall socket of home or commercial electricity. The vehicle is easy to drive, and very economical compared to other variants of three wheelers.

Powered by either lead acid or lithium ion batteries that can be recharged using clean energy, e-rickshaws or e-carts are much more sustainable than motor powered three wheelers. All major players in the market are working on creating an efficient and user friendly model that can also serve as an ambulance, food van, advertising cart, solid waste management cart,  vegetable & fruit cart or icecream truck with refrigerator, basically for every business on wheels model.

The market for e-rickshaw in India is large and full of potential opportunities, especially when the fact that they are far less expensive to use than two -wheeled motor bikes and other commercial vehicles. Over the last decade or so, there have been plenty of technological invocations that have helped shape the form of the electric rickshaw and carts as an emerging new mode of noiseless transportation connecting towns and markets to nearest bus stands or railway stations. This will undoubtedly improve the environmental footprint!!

P&S intelligence recently released a report that forecasts the Indian e-rickshaw market to grow annually at 33.3% during 2020-2025. This growth will be driven by a need for cost effective transportation alternatives, especially for short distance travel, as well as government support for making these vehicles cheaper for consumers through incentives such as subsidies or tax benefits

A government subsidy is also offered on every electric vehicle sold in India, to encourage electric vehicle sales. Our company makes 2 & 3 wheelers electric vehicles, can we aim to continue expanding our presence in the electric bike and commercial vehicle category to promote electric vehicle in India,

Depending on the type of business, we provide different models of electric carts. Open, semi closed and enclosed models currently dominate the market. Based on the one-to-one business owner request, we also have model like coffee carts with platform, vegetable cart with racks or laundry holder models for better storage in loaders. 

Other than changes in the rear cart model, consumers/drivers also tend to append some components like IOT based GPS, solar panel, hydraulic lifts and doors etc. The battery capacity and motors capacity is also varied based on the consumer’s budget and need. Most of the  major components of e-cart/ e-rickshaw are covered under factory warranty. For example, generic lead acid batteries comes with a 6 month warranty whereas the lithium ion battery comes with 36 months of warranty, the motor, charger and controller are covered under warranty too. In general, the motor we find e-rickshaw users using motor capacity of 1 KW to 1.5KW with 60AH to 200 AH battery power.

Rising fuel cost, ease of drive and eco-friendly feature of these vehicles has made them more popular in recent times. As the number of electric vehicles are increasing on the street, the ease of accessibility and availability of EV to the commuters and traders make them prefer these over traditional ICE. 

The e-rickshaws or e-carts typically cost 1.2 lakhs to 2.5 lakhs while ICE based auto rickshaw may cost 2.5 lakh to 4 lakh depending on the model and certification. The government has undertaken several initiatives to popularize e-rickshaws and is gradually framing a regulatory to create a single national market for e-rickshaw such as the National Electric Mobility Mission, National Urban Livelihood Mission, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and Smart City Mission as well as state policies such as loans, regulatory frameworks and direct subsidies. This has led to the development of a comprehensive ecosystem to support the growth of the e-rickshaws.

Over the next five years, we expect to see a much larger shift in the number of e-rickshaws being used in India. However, there are many hurdles that need to overcome first, especially around standards and regulations. 

Adapt Motors Private Limited is South India’s pioneer 2 & 3 electric vehicle manufacturer since 2015. The company has certified products for passenger transit as well as the good carrier. The company is supply and providing service across PAN India locations. From 2020, company has started joint venture in African continent and is supplying electric 2 wheeler and 3 wheeler for African Continent. The Company invites distributors, dealers, traders, agents and investors who share the vision and mission of the company to recreate a society that allows humans, machines and environment to sustain together.