From Dhaka’s crowded streets to remote rural growth centres, battery-run three-wheelers have transformed mobility in Bangladesh.
Known locally as easy bikes, e-bikes or auto-rickshaws, these vehicles have become an indispensable part of urban and rural transport, offering affordable mobility and livelihoods to countless people, including drivers, mechanics, assemblers and small entrepreneurs across the country.
Yet behind this transport revolution lies a growing energy dilemma. Most three-wheelers depend on electricity generated largely from fossil fuels.
At a time when Bangladesh is searching for cleaner and cheaper energy solutions, solarising this massive informal transport fleet offers an important opportunity to connect mobility with renewable energy and turn a mounting electricity burden into a pathway for green mobility.
According to estimates by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, more than six million battery-run three-wheelers are now operating nationwide.
Despite their popularity, these vehicles face several challenges, including unstable structures, poor braking and suspension systems, unregulated operations, and unsafe charging practices.
The energy issue is even more serious. Most vehicles still rely on outdated and heavy lead-acid batteries paired with inefficient, low-cost chargers that generate excessive heat and waste a significant portion of the electricity drawn.
Although lithium-ion batteries, which are 50% lighter and more efficient, are available in the market, their adoption remains limited because of higher upfront costs and a lack of policy support.
Charging these vehicles also puts pressure on the already stressed national grid. A large portion of charging electricity is drawn through domestic connections or illegal hookups.
Since many vehicles remain unregistered, accurate statistics are difficult to obtain. However, if each vehicle consumes an average of four to six units of electricity daily, the combined demand of six million vehicles could exceed 35 million units every day. This is where solarisation becomes important.
Installing solar panels on the roofs of three-wheelers (Figure 1), connected through charge controllers to the battery system, can partially recharge batteries during daytime operation. Studies suggest that rooftop solar charging may save up to 20% of grid electricity consumption.
Figure 1. Electric three-wheeler with a solar panel mounted on its roof.
Bangladesh can also explore solar-powered charging stations under net-metering arrangements (Figure 2).
Charging hubs equipped with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems could export electricity to the national grid during the daytime and draw electricity back at night when vehicles require charging. Such systems would reduce pressure on the grid while promoting renewable energy integration.
The idea is neither unrealistic nor unprecedented. In recent years, Cuba has rolled out electric three-wheelers, demonstrating how these vehicles can be gradually integrated into the transport ecosystem.
What began as a localised pilot project in Havana has evolved into a vital nationwide transport network. These vehicles are now common in parts of Havana and other cities. Rather than banning informal electric vehicles, Cuba focused on improving and modernising them.
Bangladesh can draw useful lessons from this experience. For years, battery-run three-wheelers have operated largely outside formal regulation. Attempting to ban them altogether would be neither practical nor economically wise.
A better approach would be to modernise and retrofit the existing fleet in phases while keeping the safety of passengers and drivers in mind.
At present, no single authority appears to be fully responsible for the sector. The Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA), the national nodal agency for the promotion of renewable energy, could take the lead, in cooperation with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, in introducing pilot projects for solarisation, improved charging systems and vehicle regularisation.
Such initiatives could transform three-wheelers into more than just a low-cost mode of transport. They could become instruments of energy transition, climate adaptation and decentralised mobility.
Solar-powered charging networks would also create new green jobs in solar installation, battery servicing and maintenance.
Figure 2. Net-metering-based electric three-wheeler charging station (Source: Hossain, M.J.A., Hasanuzzaman, M., Khan, M.Z.R., & Habib, M.A., 2023).
Bangladesh’s clean transport transition does not have to begin with expensive luxury electric cars. It can start with the ordinary three-wheeler that already serves millions of people every day. Modernising and solarising this vast transport network could reduce dependence on fossil fuels, ease electricity shortages and bring renewable energy closer to everyday life.
(Mohammad Alauddin is a former Rector of the Bangladesh Power Management Institute. He writes articles for Just Energy News, and can be reached at [email protected])