Fuel Efficiency and Pollution
In July 1998, the Supreme Court of India ordered the Delhi government to implement CNG or LPG (Autogas) fuel for all autos and for the entire bus fleet in and around the city. Delhi's air quality has improved with the switch to CNG. Initially, auto rickshaw drivers in Delhi had to wait in long queues for CNG refueling, but the situation has improved with the increase of CNG stations. Certain local governments are pushing for four-stroke engines instead of the current two-stroke versions. Typical mileage for an Indian-made auto rickshaw is around 35 kilometers per liter of petrol (about 2.9 L per 100 km, or 82 miles per gallon . Pakistan has passed a similar law prohibiting auto rickshaws in certain areas. CNG auto rickshaws have started to appear in huge numbers in many Pakistani cities.
In January 2007 the Sri Lankan government also banned two-stroke trishaws to reduce air pollution. In the Philippines there are projects to convert carburated two-stroke engines to direct-injected via Envirofit technology. Research has shown LPG or CNG gas direct-injection to be retrofit-able to existing engines in similar fashion to the Envirofit system. In Vigan City majority of tricycles-for-hire as of 2008 are powered by motorcycles with four-stroke engines, as tricycles with two-stroke motorcycles are prevented from receiving operating permits. Direct injection is standard equipment on new machines in India.
In March 2009 an international consortium coordinated by the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies initiated a two-year public-private partnership of local and international stakeholders aiming at operating a fleet of 15 hydrogen-fueled three-wheeled vehicles in New Delhi's Pragati Maidan complex. As of January 2011, the project was upon completion.
In the meantime, in October, 2011, the Department of Transportation for the U.S. approved the complete 2012 series of American made, all-electric tuk tuks by Electro Technologies. Chassis were still being shipped in from Thailand, but now with the inclusion of all electrical components as manufactured only in the U.S. with assembly completed in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The American made electric tuk tuks were unique in that they were charged through common 110v outlets providing a range of 60 to 100(+) miles per charge (depending upon model and conditions) with a recharge time between 4 to 6 hours. The Electro Technologies Tuk Tuks topped out at 40 miles per hour.
Read more about this topic: Auto Rickshaw
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