India is gradually but surely headed towards an electric-vehicle revolution with a long list of promised electric cars, public transport additions and even infrastructure facilities. There is, however, one niche in which India has already surpassed every other country in the world. That is the use of e-rickshaws.
And this is, by a huge margin. As per a recent report by A.T. Kearney, around 11,000 new e-rickshaws hit the Indian roads every month. Counting to a total of 1.5 million e-rickshaws in the country to date, that already puts India¡¯s e-rickshaw tally to more than the entire fleet of electric vehicles sold in China since 2011.
While we are well versed with the pros of having an electric fleet, there are some specific to e-rickshaws. The battery powered three wheelers are easier for the operator and cut down on the efforts, are faster, quieter, require less maintenance and leave next-to-zero carbon footprint (which was anyway similar for hand rickshaws).
There are monetary benefits as well. Being faster and less strenuous, e-rickshaws enable more number of rides to the operator. This naturally corresponds to a higher income.
Comyan
With pros, come the cons. While there is a hoard of e-rickshaws on the roads, what we lack is set guidelines to monitor their operations. For starters, there is a question of the safety offered by these e-rickshaws both to the passengers and the drivers. Since there are very few safety standards to check, including no crash tests, the impending challenges to safety are imminent. The fact that there is a battery powering them, which might explode on a considerable impact, is also scary. Though it should be noted that the Delhi transport government mandates it for the e-rickshaws to have a fire extinguisher and a first aid box.
Moreover, there is no necessary training procedure for the drivers as well, unlike the case with other commercial vehicles wherein the drivers are required to attend training schools certified by an RTO.
And how does one go about in the case of a breakdown. While the mechanical anomalies can easily be handled, the ones with the battery or the electrical system require expertise to fix.
Guidelines for e-rickshaws set by the Delhi government specify a necessity of a legal way of charging the batteries by the operator. There is no check on this however and most usually resort to just the opposite of legal ways to power their units.
Comyan
While the effect of most of these cons are confined to the e-rickshaws and the ones travelling in them, there is a larger impact that takes place on the Indian roads. With a surging number of these plying on the roads now, Indian roads face the resulting congestion, which we have all surely faced some day or the other.
Despite all the cons, the rise in e-rickshaws should be counted as a step towards the betterment. This is because more than counting the pros and cons of the e-rickshaws themselves, it is a question of what is better. An e-rickshaw or a conventional fuel powered three wheeler. If you look at it this way, e-rickshaws will come out on top anyday and hence, should be embraced. There is just a necessity of set guidelines in place for their operation and the proper implementation of these guidelines.