India has more e-rickshaws than China's e-vehicles fleet
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. As many as 11,000 new e-rickshaws hit the streets every month, and annual sales are expected to increase about 9 per cent by 2021, according to consulting firm A.T. Kearney. Three-wheeled vehicles make up a $1.5 billion market, and manufacturers of electric versions include Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and Kinetic Engineering Ltd, along with smaller outfits that assemble parts imported from China. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime, transformational opportunity that we’re looking at," said Goldie Srivastava, chief executive officer and co-founder of SmartE, an Uber-style app using 800-plus e-rickshaws around New Delhi. “When we look at