Imagine yourself riding in an electric auto-rickshaw without the noise and vibrations of the engine piercing through your ears. As a regular user of auto-rickshaws, that’s the experience I am looking for. Fortunately, RACEnergy, a Hyderabad-based electrical vehicle (EV) startup, is making kits for auto-rickshaws that would convert them into EVs.
RACEnergy spent over two years developing and testing this kit, which can be retrofitted into an existing IC engine powered three-wheeler. Having spoken to over 2,000 auto-rickshaw drivers in Hyderabad, the startup is on the cusp over delivering a product that can potentially improve the lives of both drivers and passengers.
“The conversion kit costs about Rs 50,000. It’s cheap because we operate this on a battery swapping model, which removes the battery out of the price of the vehicle. The driver who converts his vehicle into an EV doesn’t buy the battery upfront, and instead swaps it at a battery-swapping station whenever…