After Gutenberg

A more environment friendly auto-rickshaw has been the subject of several After Gutenberg posts. Via Andy Revkin, we learn of student teams from Dutch and Indian universities that took part in a competion to design the cleanest, cheapest and most practical upgrade kit to cut carbon emissions. Enviru, which is an environmental think tank in Rotterdam, now has announced the first winners.

Enviru, which is looking for funding (Good Luck, Disco Duck) to retrofit 1 million auto rickshaws in India, held a race in Rotterdam in May. Final hype judging will take place later this month in India.

Elisabeth Rosenthal has an excellent video interview with Stef Van Dongen, director of Enviu. He “saw a huge opportunity to improve the environment and also to improve the life of the rickshaw drivers.” So, he established the “Hybrid Auto-Rickshaw Battle,” “challenging university teams in Holland and India to come up with a prototype for a cleaner rickshaw that reduces emissions and fuel use, and is also cheap to build.”

Public transportation in much of South and Southeast Asia is by Tuk-Tuk, or auto-rickshaw. “There are 3 million alone in India,” The ubiquitous two- and three-wheelers of ontribute massive amounts of pollution. Enviu established a competition to design a low emissions versions.

As Barcelona treehugger Petz Scholtus previously noted:

Enviu has already researched the auto rickshaw situation together with experts in Bangalore and Hyderabad, which proved the project to be more than worthwhile. Their study revealed that a hybrid auto rickshaw can increase a driver’s income to at least 35%, due to the money they save on fuel. Furthermore, the overall impact of upgrading one million TukTuks can reduce the CO2 emissions of each one by 40-60%.

Technically it is possible to design one upgrading system for all because the engines of auto rickshaws are generally of the same kind. The challenge also lies in making this system affordable for the current Tuk Tuk drivers around the world.