More e-Rickshaws In India Than Battery Powered Cars In China
More e-Rickshaws In India Than Battery Powered Cars In China As many as 11,000 new e-rickshaws hit the streets every month, and annual sales are expected to increase about 9 percent by 2021 An electric-vehicle revolution is gaining ground in India, and it has nothing to do with cars. The South Asian nation is home to about 1.5 million battery-powered, three-wheeled rickshaws - a fleet bigger than the total number of electric passenger cars sold in China since 2011. But while the world's largest auto market dangled significant subsidies to encourage purchases of battery-powered cars, India's e-movement hardly got a hand from the state. Rather, drivers of the ubiquitous three-wheelers weaving through crowded, smoggy streets discovered that e-rickshaws are quieter, faster, cleaner and cheaper to maintain than a traditional auto rickshaw. They also are less strenuous than cycle rickshaws, which require all-day peddling. So with more rides possible in...