Eco-Friendly Electric Three-Wheeler Taxi Service in Sri Lanka, led by David Pieris Motors!

Three-wheeler (tuk-tuk) is vital to Sri Lanka’s taxi services. Rather than four-wheeled taxis, three-wheelers are cheaper and a bit easier to manage in heavy traffic. So, people consider tuk-tuk taxis the best method for comfortable transport for 1 to 3 people at a time.

6% of the Sri Lankan national labour force are three-wheeler taxi drivers. There are about 1.2 million three-wheelers in Sri Lanka. Among them, 450,000 are being operated in the Colombo Metropolitan area. Over 300,000 of above mentioned 1.2 million three-wheelers are 2-stroke three-wheelers.

Three-wheelers in Sri Lanka typically use LNG (Liquefied natural gasses) and LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas) as fuel. So, three-wheelers contribute considerable greenhouse gas emissions in Sri Lanka daily with fuel burning.

Half of the three-wheelers in Sri Lanka are taxis, each transporting people to different destinations a few times a day. Because of the economic situation of three-wheeler taxi drivers, there is no proper maintenance in the vehicle most of the time. So, the contribution to emissions by them becomes even higher.

E-Drive Taxi Service in Sri Lanka by David Pieris Motors

David Pieris Motor Company in Sri Lanka launched an eco-friendly electric three-wheeler taxi service on 15^th June 2023.

Mr Nalaka Kumarasinghe introduced the E-Drive electrical three-wheeler at National Industry Exhibition 2023 at BMICH to Minister Harin Fernando, Minister of Tourism and Lands (22^nd to 25^th June 2023)

This taxi service is named as E-Drive, and the service is provided to people around Colombo and its immediate suburbs. This service only charges Rs.65 per kilometre, but it can be changed due to the traffic jam of the travelled area. The service of E-Drive is available from 7 am to 7 pm from Monday to Saturday.

As the initial step, 20 three-wheelers were deployed on this project.

Our Climate Fact Checks team contacted Mr Nalaka Kumarasinghe, Assistant General Manager of David Pieris Motor Company Pvt Ltd.

 “Bajaj introduced three-wheelers to Sri Lanka in 1978; by now, there are about 900,000 petrol three-wheelers in Sri Lanka. We brought Bajaj three-wheelers from India. The Zero-carbon concept is now prevalent in the world, and almost every country, including India, is now adopting this zero-carbon emission concept. So, as an adaptation to this, we introduced electrical three-wheelers to Sri Lanka. In India, we recently launched a new electrical three-wheeler, and we hope to introduce that also to Sri Lanka as soon as possible.” Mr Nalaka Kumarasinghe explained.

Mr Kumarasinghe further explained that this project was started in 2016. Since then, this three-wheeler has been tested on almost every type of street in Sri Lanka, not only on main roads in town areas but also in the countryside.

This project is the first attempt at an eco-friendly, carbon-free, electric taxi service in Sri Lanka. Still, the project was launched as a pilot phase to give a new experience to the passengers and taxi drivers and to get ideas and feedback on that experience.

As the initial step, David Pieris Motors launched 20 electrical three-wheelers only for the E-Drive taxi service. Those 20 electrical three-wheelers were prepared by converting petrol three-wheelers into electrical three-wheelers. For that, the petrol engine of the three-wheeler has been replaced with the three-wheeler’s electrical conversion kit.

According to Mr Nalaka Kumarasinghe, the parts for the electrical conversion kit were exported from China and India. Also, the preparation of the battery of these three-wheelers is relatively inexpensive. Conversion of petrol three-wheelers into electrical three-wheelers is an expensive process.

In the electric vehicles, lithium-ion cells are used. Lithium ion is a critical component in electrochemistry. In these cells, different materials are used as electrodes. But the electrode combination commonly used in electric and hybrid vehicles is lithium manganese oxide or lithium iron phosphate as a cathode and graphite as an anode.

Mr Kumarasinghe stated about the battery life of the electrical three-wheeler. He said that this three-wheeler can be fully charged within 5 hours. And this battery charge is enough for a 100km drive. If it needs to be upgraded, setting another 01 hours and increasing the drive distance from another 25km is possible. Also, in-home charging is possible for the battery of this three-wheeler.

Environmental Impact of E-Drive Taxi Service

As mentioned above, electrical three-wheelers in E-Drive taxi services are built on the concept of zero-carbon emission. Total fossil fuel burning and emission of normal three-wheelers have turned zero with electrical three-wheelers. 2-stroke three-wheelers averagely emit 0.77g/km of CO, 1.14g/km of hydrocarbons and 0.005g/km of NO. These gasses cause global warming, air pollution and many other adverse environmental and adverse effects on human health. But with electrical three-wheelers, all of these values become 0 and give assistance to prevent the environment from all those negative impacts.cr

Also, while regular fuel-using three-wheelers make high volumes with their engines, electrical three-wheelers are designed to emit minimum noise. This also contributes decrease noise pollution.

“Though we talk about decreasing fossil fuel by using electric vehicles, we still use fossil fuels like diesel in producing electricity. So, we can consider that though electric vehicles directly assist carbon and other emissions, they contribute indirectly by using electricity produced by fossil fuel burning. So, David Pieris Motor Company is now planning a new project to cut off these indirect emissions by these electrical three-wheeler taxi services. That project is installing solar charging stations in Sri Lanka.” Mr. Nalaka Kumarasinghe mentioned.

Solar charging stations are a common concept in most countries nowadays, and installing them in Sri Lanka will be one of the significant steps toward eco-friendly transportation in Sri Lanka. It will encourage the people in the country to use more electric vehicles.

Also, Mr Kumarasinghe mentioned that these lithium-ion batteries should be disposed of within ten years or more. But this disposing process is a bit complicated. They should be taken to separate recycling or household hazardous waste collection points. If they don’t handle them correctly, the chemicals inside those batteries may contaminate the environment and water supplies and become harmful and toxic to the ecosystem and living beings. But still, there are no lithium-ion battery disposal methods in Sri Lanka. So, they must be collected and sent to a lithium-ion battery disposal unit in another country. David Pieris Motor Company is planning to make solutions to this with no harm to the environment at all.

Hopefully, that solution will create a more positive vibe because many people in Sri Lanka who use mobile phones and laptops dispose of lithium-ion batteries on those devices (e-waste) without caring about safety regulations. The solution to disposing of lithium-ion batteries of electric three-wheelers may be an excellent antitype to them.

Other Impacts Of E-Drive Taxi Service

E-drive taxi service is not only targeting the positive environmental impact. It also targets the advantages to the passengers and the taxi driver.

Mr Kumarasinghe said that, as fossil fuel is not used in this vehicle, it will be an advantage and money saved for the taxi driver. Also, because the petrol engine of the three-wheeler was removed before placing the electrical conversion kit, the maintenance cost of the three-wheeler is decreasing.

Also, the charge from the passenger in this taxi service is less than regular petrol three-wheeler taxis. So, it is advantageous for the passenger. The comfortability of the seats and space are not different from a normal three-wheeler, but it will be more comfortable for the passenger with less engine noise.

Mr Nalaka Kumarasinghe stated that one of their intentions was creating more disciplined three-wheeler drivers. Drivers with less discipline are responsible for many accidents and traffic jams on Sri Lankan roads. The solution to this is disciplined drivers.

“According to the law in Sri Lanka, the maximum speed limit for the three-wheelers in Sri Lanka is 40km/h. So, the electrical three-wheeler is designed according to this speed limit. But it can increase up to 45km/h. With such a speed limit, we hope to minimise the accidents with three-wheelers and create disciplined three-wheel drivers.” Mr Kumarasinghe stated.

Misleading Facts About E-Drive and Electrical Vehicles

Mr Nalaka Kumarasinghe answered our question about electrical vehicle misinformation and misleading facts.

He recalled the famous electric car ‘Nissan Leaf’ brought to Sri Lanka years ago. By now, many of these engines of the Nissan Leaf cars in Sri Lanka have been replaced with standard fuel-using machines. This car was considered a failed attempt in Sri Lanka. With the collapse of the Nissan Leaf, Sri Lankan people doubt electric vehicles.

Mr Nalaka said that this situation was set up with the climate changes and the other environmental and infrastructure case of Sri Lanka different than the country where the car was made and tested. That is why Bajaj electrical three-wheelers are tested on almost every road in Sri Lanka under every weather and climate situation. This vehicle is confirmed to be tolerable to Sri Lanka in every case.

Conclusion

The installation of an electrical conversion kit and battery for a normal three-wheeler process costs a higher amount of money. But the result of such a vehicle is more attractive and healthier. So, the E-Drive can be considered an excellent step for Sri Lankan eco-friendly transportation services. With the other plans for making this service more eco-friendly, Sri Lanka could turn another page in the zero-carbon concept.

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-With inputs from Mihiri Saparamadhu–