Long Before EVs Became A Craze, This Father-Son Duo Led The E-Rickshaw Revolution In India

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are currently the hottest-selling segment in the automobile industry, and the trend will only continue in the years and possibly decades to come.

But long before the current EV trend, another electric vehicle had silently revolutionised urban public transport in India.

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Vijay Kapoor, the father of e-rickshaw

E-rickshaws have been plying on Indian roads for over a decade now and have helped many who were previously rickshaw pullers make a better living.

The pioneer of e-rickshaws in India is Vijay Kumar Kapoor, an IIT-Kanpur graduate and the founder of Saera Electric Auto Limited.

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Kapoor, an entrepreneur with a decade-long experience in the automobile industry, said the inspiration behind electric rickshaw came after witnessing the day-to-day hardships of paddle rickshaw drivers.

According to Kapoor, in 2010, he witnessed the intense efforts put in by the rickshaw pullers to navigate through the crowded lanes of Delhi's Chandni Chowk amidst extreme weather conditions and started thinking about a solution that required almost zero human effort, was eco-friendly and had low running cost.

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How first e-rickshaw was designed

He improved on the design created by Dr Anil Kumar Rajvanshi of the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in 2000, and in 2011, Mayuri e-rickshaw made its road debut.

According to Nitin Kapoor, the Managing Director of Saera Electric Auto, his father did extensive research and adapted the motor used in loaders in China to fit the Indian conditions.

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He also went into minute details like designing the front glass as per the requirement of the drivers to making the height of the rickshaws as per the average height of the passengers before finalising the end product.

Challenges in making e-rickshaw a reality

Even after this, there were multiple challenges that Saera had to overcome.

"Initially, the major challenge my father faced was the lack of adequate infrastructure to make or operate an e-rickshaw. For example, there were no local manufacturers for making the tyres of the e-rickshaws, and we had to make them ourselves," Nitin Kapoor told Indiatimes.

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"Also, there were no manufacturers of batteries for the e-rickshaw, and we had to provide the vendors with the technical knowledge to assemble the battery pack and charger. The batteries available at that time were not fit for the e-rickshaws in terms of design," he added.

Took eight months for first sale

Even after overcoming all the design and manufacturing challenges, when Mayuri e-rickshaw was first launched in Delhi NCR, it failed to attract any buyers.

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In fact, it took Vijay Kapoor eight months to sell his first e-rickshaw.

"It took us around eight months to sell the first e-rickshaw. It was significantly difficult to convince the customers since just before the launch of Mayuri, another big company launched their first electric two-wheelers, which wasn't a big success ¨C mostly due to the lack of servicing facilities. To make the e-rickshaw reliable, we ensured easy access to servicing by keeping a trained mechanic and ensuring there was no shortage of spare parts," Kapoor said.

What makes e-rickshaws attractive

From the start, Saera's target customers were the rickshaw pullers who were putting intense physical labour and thus, the company had to ensure that beyond the ease of use, they also had to financially appeal to them.

"Since the e-rickshaws run on batteries, the manual labour invested in them is much less than the regular rickshaws; usually, in e-rickshaws, the wear and tear are very less, and the maintenance costs are also minimal. The overall operational cost of the e-rickshaws is much less as compared to the autos, which are ICE-powered," he said.

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E-rickshaws from former Harley Davidson plant

Saera, which started with a small plant in Gurugram and had a production capacity of 20 vehicles per day, currently has two state-of-the-art facilities in Bhiwadi Rajasthan, which has a production capacity of 24000 units and in Bawal, Haryana, with a capacity of 2 lakh units of electric two-wheelers and 36,000 units of three-wheelers in a year.

The Saera manufacturing plant in Bawal was earlier Harley Davidson's maiden manufacturing unit in India and is spread over five acres of land.

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Golf carts, solar and more

Building on the success of Mayuri e-rickshaws, Saera is now foraying into more categories, including electric golf carts.

"In new products, we have next-generation L5 vehicles and high-speed cargo two-wheelers, which are designed especially for rough roads and will give more average. We are also working on a solar-based e-rickshaw; it is in the prototype stage," Kapoor explained.

How safety concerns were addressed

While e-rickshaws have become a regular sight in cities across India, in the initial days, Saera had to go through several regulatory hurdles as there was no framework in place for the new vehicles.

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Their safety and stability had come under intense scrutiny, and in 2014 the Delhi High Court had banned the plying of the 'unregulated' e-rikshaws in the national capital.

But, Kapoor said, over the years, they have made significant improvements to meet the safety regulations.

"We ensure to comply with every safety regulation issued by the regulatory bodies. Our primary focus is to provide the utmost safety features to our e-rickshaws. While designing the EVs, the engineering part plays a major role in our vehicles; for example, we carefully calculate the height: width: length ratio and the weight to ensure that there is minimal chance of toppling," he explained.

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Recycling and repurposing e-rikshaw batteries

There has also been criticism that the e-rikshaws are only going to add to the pollution problem and not solve it, as their batteries are not being recycled. Kapoor, however, disagrees.

"Mostly, the e-rickshaw batteries are four rechargeable lead-acid batteries containing 20 Kg lead and 10 Kg sulphuric acid. The batteries have an average life cycle of six to eight months and are then recycled in the factories. Lead can be recycled indefinitely without any degradation in the quality. Hence, if the batteries are regularly recycled, they should not be a major contributor to pollution," he said.

"As EVs become more prevalent, recycling and repurposing batteries becomes crucial for reducing waste and environmental impact. Second-life batteries offer the potential for home energy storage and can provide significant energy even after being no longer suitable for use in vehicles. Innovations in EV battery technology are driving the growth of the industry, with more advancements expected in the coming years," he added.

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