The Hybrid Auto Rickshaw project is the brainchild of Stef van Dongen, of Enviu. Van Dongen: “It is our ambition to adapt a million tuktuks and reduce their CO2 emissions by 40-60 percent.” According to estimations of the World Bank, Asia has 100 million, polluting two-stroke tuktuks. Their total air pollution is equivalent to the emissions of 5 billion clean cars. Every single tuktuk produces as much pollution as 50 clean European cars. The engines of the auto rickshaws are generally homogeneous and only one upgrade system is needed to hybridize most rickshaws.

Millions of people are financially dependent on the auto rickshaws for their livelihood. They earn 3 to 4 dollars a day. A cheaper and cleaner tuktuk has an enormous social economic impact. In order to get accurate and up-to-date information about the auto rickshaw sector, a base line study has been made in cooperation with local Indian experts in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The research revealed that it is possible to increase the incomes of rickshaw drivers up by at least 35 percent and to offer the collective CO2 reduction of the auto rickshaws to the formal or voluntary international carbon compensation market.

Dutch student teams from Delft, Eindhoven, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Groningen and two from Indian universities will compete for one year. The assignment is to develop a sustainable and easy to fit installation, making the tuktuk cleaner and more economical. The teams will also make business plans for market introduction of their designs. The final of the project will be in May 2009, in India. Enviu aims to further develop the winning model and introduce it on the Asian market.

Enviu is a young international organisation, run for and by enterprising young people who share their network, expertise, time and money to implement sustainable development in a contemporary and businesslike manner. Enviu’s best known project is the ‘Sustainable Dance Club’, an energy-generating dance floor.

P+ webtip: Hybrid Tuktuk