This 'clean' auto plans to go from Bengaluru to London in 90 days

A clean environment is something that we all yearn for. Meet Naveen Rabelli, the brain behind Tejas -- the solar tuk tuk (autorickshaw).

Rabelli is planning an 8,000 kilometre drive on his tuk tuk between Bengaluru and London to show case his vehicle, which uses more renewable energy.

The electronics engineer officially began work on Project Tejas in 2012.

Rabelli studied at Hyderabad and later moved to Australia where he worked with an automotive company. After travelling to New Zealand and South East Asia, he returned to Bengaluru and worked with the Reva Electric Car Company.

Rabelli tells rediff.com that he is enthusiastic about this project and hopes to educate as many people as possible about his vision, which is a mode of transport which uses clean and renewable energy.

“This is a dream project for me. I have been working on it since the past one year. We propose to start our journey in August. There is a lot of work that remains to be done and moreover we are still awaiting the government’s permission to commence our journey.”

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“The drive we plan on undertaking would also involve stopovers at as many universities as possible where we will speak to students about our project and dream. What we would like to convey is that sustainable energy is not far away and I would like to make the people aware that it is a reality,” he says.

Rabelli plans on completing this journey in 90 days.

“We will drive down the tuk tuk to Mumbai and then ship it to Iran. From there we will drive it to France and then ship it to the United Kingdom. Another team plans on travelling at a pace of 100 kilometres a day and complete the journey in about 90 days,” he says.

The tuk tuk is currently doing test rounds in Bengaluru. Powered by solar energy and electricity on a charge of 8 hours, the vehicle can do 80 kilometres. If charged 8 hours on solar power alone, it can run 25 kilometres. 

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The autorickshaw is fitted with a computer, which tracks the temperature of the vehicle and also the energy generated. 

The cost of the project is around Rs 3.5 lakh.

Rabelli says that his tuk tuk is very cost effective too and would cost Rs 40 to operate for 100 kilometres.

The tuk tuk, a modified version of the Piaggio Ape autorickshaw, will be called as Tejas (meaning radiance in Sanskrit).

Rabelli needs another $2000 for the project. There are companies that have been coming forward to help him.

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