Watch: This solar-powered tuk tuk travelled all the way from India to the UK (with no emissions)
Proof that low-cost, durable and environment-friendly transportation is indeed possible.
The Indian-born Australian engineer Naveen Rabelli started an unusual journey from the country of his birth in February 2016. He set off in a solar-powered tuk tuk – something like our good old auto-rickshaw – for a somewhat distant destination.
Seven months later, he completed his 6,500km-long journey to the United Kingdom, five days behind schedule because his passport was stolen in Paris.
His journey was meant to draw attention to the fact that solar devices can be made cheaply at home. In the video above, the thirty-five-year-old engineer talks about how he self-modified a common tuk tuk in his garage and transformed it into his solar-powered version called Tejas. It took two years to make the modified vehicle, which can travel at 40 kilometres a hour and 85 kilometres on a single charge.
Cambodia, too, has a solar-powered version of the vehicle, which is an Indian icon and ubiquitous in many Asian cities. Run by a local NGO, this one also has a coffee shop run by former rag pickers.