Audi e-tron battery modules power electric rickshaws in India

Nunam developed the three prototypes in collaboration with the training team at Audi’s Neckarsulm site, which in turn benefits from the intensive intercultural exchange. This is the first joint project between both Audi AG and the Audi Environmental Foundation in addition to Nunam.

The e-rickshaws powered by second-life batteries are scheduled to hit the roads in India for the first time in a pilot project in early 2023. There they will be made available to a non-profit organisation. Women in particular will be able to use the all-electric rickshaws to transport their goods to market for sale, all without the need for intermediaries. The e-rickshaws are powered by used battery modules that spent their first life in an Audi e-tron.

“The old batteries are still extremely powerful,” says Nunam cofounder Prodip Chatterjee, adding that “When used appropriately, second-life batteries can have a huge impact, helping people in challenging life situations earn an income and gain economic independence – everything in a sustainable way.”

The start-up’s primary goal is to develop ways to use old batteries as second-life power storage systems, thus both extending their lives and using resources more efficiently.

“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,” Chatterjee explains. “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,” he adds.

“REUSING E-WASTE”

“E-rickshaws have an ideal eco-efficiency,” says 31-year-old Chatterjee. With a high-energy-density battery and comparatively low vehicle weight, the electric motor doesn’t have to be particularly powerful, since rickshaw drivers in India travel neither fast nor far. While electrically powered rickshaws are not an uncommon sight on the roads of the subcontinent today, they often run on lead-acid batteries, which have a relatively short service life and are often not disposed of properly.

At the same time, rickshaw drivers charge their vehicles primarily with public grid electricity, which has a high proportion of coal-fired power in India. Nunam has a solution for this as well: The e-rickshaws charge using power from solar charging stations. The solar panels are located on the roofs of the local partner’s premises. During the day, sunlight charges an e-tron battery, which acts a buffer storage unit. And in the evening, the power is passed on to the rickshaws. This approach makes local driving largely carbon-free. The upshot: The electric rickshaws can be used throughout the day – and still be charged with green power during the evening and night. In India, where the sun shines all year round, placing solar panels on the roof is a no-brainer. The charging station was also developed internally.

Nunam continuously monitors the e-rickshaws’ performance and range. The social entrepreneurs make all the e-rickshaw data they collect available to potential imitators on the open-source platform https://circularbattery.org/. In fact, imitation is expressly encouraged. “Initiatives like the one pioneered by Nunam are needed to find new use cases for e-waste. Not only in India, but worldwide. So Nunam shares its knowledge to motivate more initiatives to develop products with second-life components that can drive the eco-social revolution forward,” says Audi Environmental Foundation Director Rüdiger Recknagel. The Foundation has been funding Nunam since 2019.

Moreover, after the battery has spent its first life in an Audi e-tron and its second in an e-rickshaw, it has not necessarily reached the end of the road. In a third step, the batteries’ remaining power might be used for stationary applications such as LED lighting. “We want to get everything possible out of each battery before recycling,” says cofounder Prodip Chatterjee.

In the long term, electric mobility and solar energy can help reduce India’s dependence on fossil fuels such as coal, reduce the huge volume of exhaust emissions on India’s roads, and provide people with a reliable power supply. Rüdiger Recknagel comments: “In many ways, this project is pointing the way forward.”