The electric vehicle industry in Bangladesh will grow and drivers will no longer need to worry about being fined or having their vehicles impounded.

On a hot summer day last month, dozens of electric tricycles, all decked out with their signature bright roofs and bright paint, flooded the streets of central Dhaka.

Kamal Hossain, 39, who attended the event, told The Rest of the World that it was a “victory rally.” He said it marked the end of an “uphill battle.” The crowd was celebrating Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s decision to introduce laws to regulate the battery-powered tricycles, known locally as electric tricycles.

For the past six years, Hussain has been making a living carrying passengers on an electric tricycle. But he often faces the threat of being fined or impounded by traffic police, as electric tricycles are illegal in the country.

In 2014, Bangladesh’s High Court rejected a request to legalize electric tricycles. More recently, in May, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader ordered the authorities to withdraw all electric tricycles from Dhaka.

Card’s order sparked protests from car owners and drivers in the capital, and a day later, the government reversed its stance.

“We have been asking for the legalization of these electric tricycles,” Hussain said. “They are fast and, most importantly, they free us from the tremendous physical burden of riding a traditional tricycle.”

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There are currently between two and four million electric tricycles in Bangladesh, which operate without any regulation or monitoring. Experts who have studied the use of electric tricycles say they will rule Bangladesh’s roads once new regulations are introduced. However, the government must set standards for its design to ensure passenger safety and address the problem of illegal charging infrastructure.

“In a country like Bangladesh and a city like Dhaka, it is not possible or feasible to remove rickshaws from the road,” Saimum Kabir, an assistant professor of architecture at Burak University who has conducted multiple studies on rickshaws construction, told the rest of the world. “Electric rickshaws are clearly an improved version of traditional manual rickshaws, and it’s better to focus on how to make these rickshaws safer and more sustainable, rather than banning them because the latter won’t work.”

Minister Quaid told the rest of the world that his team is finalizing policies to regulate electric tricycles. “Every problem has a solution,” Quaid said. “Millions of people are pulling these electric tricycles and our prime minister is now allowing them to operate for humanitarian reasons. So we will soon have laws to regulate them.”

Shamsul Hoque, a transport expert and former director of the Accident Research Institute of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, told the world that the upcoming policy must clarify the distance and area that electric tricycles can travel in order to reduce the risk to passengers.

“On main roads and highways, they are hampered by their slow speed and fragile frame.”

These vehicles are designed to carry passengers over short distances, “but if they are used over long distances, they pose an accident hazard,” Hawk said. “Also, on main roads and highways, they look like a nuisance due to their slow speed and fragile frame. So policies have to say in what areas they can operate.”

He added that the policy should also set design standards for electric tricycles. “We’re seeing regular tricycles being converted into electric tricycles with batteries and motors,” Hawk said. “These tricycle chassis are not designed to withstand the high speeds that battery tricycles often travel at, increasing the risk of accidents.”

Due to the lack of laws and regulations, electric tricycles can only be produced by untrained technicians in temporary workshops. In recent years, this has led to unaffordable prices for organized manufacturers.

Beevatech, a pioneer in the manufacturing of electric tricycles in Bangladesh, started selling such vehicles 14 years ago. Speaking to the rest of the world, Saidur Ra hman, managing director of Beevatech, said recently that the company had reduced its production of electric tricycles because it could not compete with the low prices offered by informal players.

He added that the company’s models cost at least twice as much as similar models produced in informal workshops. The company currently focuses on selling electric minivans, golf carts and small trucks.

Mr Rahman said the new regulations would “formalise the industry” and “many large manufacturing companies will enter the sector, which will benefit the whole economy”.

Mustafizi did not want to give his last name to protect his privacy. He runs a makeshift electric tricycle workshop in Basila, a suburb of Dhaka. His workshop, which churns out 70 to 80 electric tricycles a month, is poorly equipped: almost hidden behind a cattle ranch, just a few Chinese welders, air compressors, hydraulic jacks and battery analyzers.

An electric tricycle produced at the workshop costs about 90,000 taka ($760), Mustafizi told the rest of the world, adding that workers at the plant have learned how to build the vehicles through old manuals and YouTube videos.

“It’s not difficult to make these rickshaws,” Mustafiz said. “We have been making tricycles for years and are now improving this design to make them bigger, wider and stronger to handle higher speeds.” Mustafizi’s electric tricycle can reach speeds of 25 kilometers per hour.

One reason manufacturers such as Mustafiz have been able to sell cars at lower prices than Beevatech, he said, is that the electricity used in their workshops is illegally obtained by paying bribes to local utility officials.

Getting a new commercial power line requires a lot of documentation and proper permits, which Mustafizi couldn’t get because electric tricycles are illegal, he added. But once battery-powered tricycles are legal, Mustafizi will opt for a bigger workshop, he said. “I will expand my business because there will be a great demand for new tricycles. I would also apply for commercial power lines, “he said.

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