‘Easy bike’ taxis are green but illegal in Bangladesh
Md Shubho, 22, drives an electric three-wheeler taxi — known locally as an “easy bike” — in southeastern Dhaka. Recently married, he said the work brings in enough to cover his living expenses.
“(It) allows me to earn quick cash every day, unlike in my earlier job at my father’s tailor shop,” he said, waiting in line for business with his red vehicle.
The battery-run taxis, which can carry four to eight passengers, are a cheap form of public transport, commonly used in both urban and rural Bangladesh.
Rough estimates put the number of easy bikes at between 1 million and 4 million, with a high share of parts manufactured in Bangladesh, making up an industry worth about US$2 billion.
Yet despite being popular, the rudimentary vehicles operate illegally, as do electric rickshaws that take three passengers.
Police sometimes go on drives to seize easy bikes — and it takes a hefty sum to get them back. “It would be better if I could drive the vehicle without fear and risks,” said Shubho.
Drivers of electric three-wheelers often face extortion because of their illegal status, said Sayed Uzzal, a leader of the Rickshaw-Van-Easy Bike Rights Protection Committee.
The Bangladesh Supreme Court last month overturned a December decision by the High Court to ban the electric three-wheelers. The ruling paves the way for legalisation, something the government has dithered over for the last decade.
A circular issued in 2020 by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority allowed for their registration.
But so far no vehicles have been registered because their designs are defective and would not meet requirements, said Sk Md Mahbub-E-Rabbani, the director of road safety at the agency.
Existing vehicles use substandard materials and have low aerodynamic efficiency, said Kazi Zashimul Islam, president of Baagh Eco Motors Ltd, which plans to launch electric three-wheelers with a safer, government-approved design using lithium-based batteries.
The government can impose restrictions on vehicles deemed unfit for the road under the Road Transport Act 2018.
Easy bikes have often been seized or banned in cities and towns, leading to protests by drivers and workers associated with the industry.
“If there are any safety concerns about the designs of easy bikes, the government should help mitigate the concerns rather than taking drastic steps such as banning or seizing them, affecting millions of workers who depend on the sector for their livelihood,” said Manisha Chakraborty, an adviser to the Easy Bike Action Committee, an advocacy group.
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) is working on a standard design for electric three-wheelers. They are better for the environment than their gasoline equivalents as they run on batteries and have no tailpipe pollution, said BUET professor Md Ziaur Rahman Khan.
Easy bikes and smaller e-rickshaws come under the umbrella category of electric three-wheelers, but there are disagreements about whether both should be legalised.
“Easy bikes should be approved while e-rickshaws should not receive legal approval, as the latter have poor dynamic stability and are highly prone to accidents,” said Khan.
But Chakraborty of the Easy Bike Action Committee called for e-rickshaws to be legalised too, once the design of the vehicles is improved with proper technical support.
Md Ahsan Samad, secretary of the Bangladesh Electric Tricycle Manufacturers and Importers Association, said that in light of the Supreme Court ruling, investors are keen to start manufacturing the vehicles, and millions of new jobs could be created both in factories and on the roads.
But for those jobs to be green, the vehicles will need to run on a cleaner source of power.
Most easy bikes and e-rickshaws charge their batteries with electricity from the fossil fuel-heavy national grid, and thus are not carbon-free.
Bangladesh has just 14 solar-powered EV charging stations concentrated in Dhaka, compared to 759 fossil-fuel stations, while most electric vehicles recharge at night when solar power is not available, said Khan.
The government is seeking international financial aid and technical assistance to install an adequate charging infrastructure as well as electric buses in major cities, with an estimated combined budget of $60 billion.
To boost the use of clean power, solar charging stations should be connected to the grid so they can feed in excess power during the daytime to increase the share of renewable energy, Khan added.
“It would be better if I could drive the vehicle without fear and risks”
MD SHUBHO Easy bike driver