Cheap Hybrid Auto Rickshaw the Focus of Student Competition
by Kenny Luna, North Babylon, NY 
on 06.27.08
With 100 million auto rickshaws in use across Asia, student teams from Dutch and Indian universities are taking the challenge to design the cleanest, cheapest and most practical upgrade kit to cut carbon emissions from their incredibly polluting, two-stroke motors.
Each of the rickshaws, known as tuktuks in India, creates as much pollution as 50 cars, and project organizers have set themselves the goal of adapting one million of them to reduce their CO2 emissions by 40-60%.
Economic and Social Impacts of Hybrid Auto Rickshaw
A goal which just may be accomplished if students can come up with the right mix of technology to pull it off, and an achievement which will have enormous social impact for the millions of people who are financially dependent on them for their livelihood, earning 3 to 4 dollars a day.
And in further proof that the green movement is good for the economy, research done by project organizers at Enviu indicate that it may well be possible to increase the incomes of the rickshaw drivers by at least 35% and offer the associated carbon credits for sale on the international carbon market as well.
The winning team is expected to be announced in May of 2009, and we’re looking forward to seeing what they’ve come up with!
via: press release
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Making an Auto rickshaw into an electric hybrid on the cheap ...
~ Change front hub for a hub motor
~ Put a couple of batteries under the seat
~ Add a controller
Some of the engineering students should be able to make the hardware work.
I hope that the system judged best will be put into mass production, and subsidized by governments with the upgrades financed by banks.
Recharge stations at Auto rickshaw cab-stands would be a bonus.
"...known as tuktuks in India"
They are known as auto-rickshaws in India, and tuk-tuks mostly in Thailand I think.
In New Delhi, autorickshaws have switched over to compressed natural gas (CNG). Far cleaner than the petrol/kerosene mixture they used to burn before. Buses in Delhi have also switched to CNG from diesel. The result, is much less air pollution than before. Although the gains are being negated by an ongoing increase in car ownership.
Well, it is not quite that easy, but we are trying our best...
I am one of those engineering students working on this project, and we'll get started with the interesting research bit this summer.
Regulations of this project state that the rickshaw has to be as much stand-alone as it is now, and the used techniques should be adaptable by rickshaw drivers and local technicians.
We are actually looking for sponsors and teamsupporters, even new team members are welcome, allthough becoming a member means you have to be conected to our school.
We also need as much publicity possible... ;)
For updates on the project; Enviu is the host...
I was in Bangalore on business recently and couldn't help wondering if even a simple solar panel atop each rickshaw could help. These things pootle around the city ALL the blinding hot sunny day and the roofs are just wasted potential.