Audi.com
Audi has partnered with Nunam to turn the Indian rickshaw into an electric vehicle that runs on old batteries. German-Indian startup Nunam will provide the technology to help create both electric autos and charging infrastructure. Nunam says that the choice of rickshaws for this program is to optimize the batteries of older EVs.
Nunam will use Audi’s used EV batteries to convert rickshaws into electric vehicles through this Audi-Nunam partnership. Nunam will also provide eco-friendly charging stations for new e-rickshaws across the country. The Audi-Nunam e-rickshaw concept will be presented at the Greentech Festival 2022 in Berlin, Germany.
Prodip Chatterjee, Co-Founder, Nunam said, “Car batteries are designed to last the life of the car. But even after their initial use in a vehicle, they still have a lot of their power. For vehicles with lower range and power requirements, as well as lower overall weight, they are extremely promising. In our second-life project, we reuse batteries from electric cars in electric vehicles; you might call it electric mobility ‘lite.’ In this way, we’re trying to find out how much power the batteries can still provide in this demanding use case.”
This new green initiative could have a significant impact on India. Autorickshaws are a major contributor to carbon emissions. Therefore, providing a zero-emission option by the means of an e-rickshaw can prove to be effective. Audi’s Rudiger Recknagel says Nunam is sharing its knowledge to promote cleaner approaches to EV batteries worldwide. There are no details yet as to when the e-rickshaws’ production will commence.
