Palki EV: The next generation of electric auto rickshaws?
The founders of Palki hope to fulfil the needs of people looking for affordable cars for day to day use, ridesharing, as well as for jobs such as intra-city deliveries
Cofounded by Mostofa Al Momin(CEO) and Arifur Rahman(COO), Palki is an electric car manufacturing startup company that aspires to revolutionise the country's EV landscape through the mass production of locally made automobiles.
Currently, Palki has four different models available for preorder and for this feature, we were provided with the City Boy LFP, a mid spec EV from Palki's lineup.
Looking at the model in pictures, I knew the car was small. However, what I didn't expect was for it to be sized similar to an actual 'Palki', when I saw the car for the first time at the automaker's warehouse.
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The front seems to be directly inspired from elephant sized vehicles made by Ford such as the Raptors and the Transit, albeit an intentional design choice to make the car look big from the front.
The front features a huge grille with headlights that have dual projections with DRL. At the top, what might look like a sunroof is a weird ventilator which can be lifted. It uses visible 120mm computer fans that can be seen from the inside of the car - something I've never seen before. The roof also features roof racks to carry luggage.
Despite Palki's glorious attempts at making the car look rough and tough with the black claddings or the tiny spare wheel with a cover in the rear, similar to much larger SUVs, it still looks nothing less than the spring loaded toy cars I used to buy from fairs as a kid, especially with the set of 12 inch steel or alloy rims wrapped around in 145/70/12 tyres.
From the outside, the car is smaller than a CNG auto rickshaw. However, it still manages to make for a roomier interior. With a seating arrangement of 2+2, the EV features faux leather wrapped seats with ample headroom and legroom to fit four average sized Bangladeshis. There's a full sized steering wheel, but rest assured no airbag will ever come out of it during a crash.
What I found most surprising were the AC vents in the dash - one-up from the conventional three wheelers. The interior has a three tone colour combo with plastic door panels but the dash is built from fibre and lacked proper fitment.
The centre of the dash also features a seven-inch infotainment system with Bluetooth connectivity, USB charging and even displays of the reverse camera. Below the display unit and the central AC vents is the volume regulator, like gear knob, with only three options: Reverse, Neutral and Drive.
Putting the car to parking would require users to put the car to neutral first and then pulling up the physical handbrake.
The car starts with almost no indication, similar to hybrid and other electric vehicles, with the only indicator being the gauge cluster lighting up to display the voltage used. Putting the car on gear and pressing the accelerator for the first time, it honestly didn't feel too different from a regular autorickshaw.
There's a linear initial torque similar to any other EV but it dies out very soon as the maximum speed attained by the City Boy 450 is locked to 45km/h. The highest end variant will be able to reach a top speed of 80km/h while the base model is locked at 35 km/h.
Opol Saha, mechanical engineer at Palki, said, "We've used a similar motor to what can be found in electric auto rickshaws but Palki's one comes with more power."
The motor placed behind the rear wheels at the bottom of the chassis, has a rated power output of 3,000W. Paired to a 72V 100AH battery, the City Boy 450 can ensure a maximum range of 100 to 120 km with efficient driving and can take between two to four hours to completely charge. The battery is placed under the front seat and can be easily accessed from the interior.
Taking the corners with the City Boy 450, I wasn't nearly as confident as I would be with any other regular car. There's disproportionality with weight balance and the car unpredictably jerks around when going over uneven roads. Perhaps, the tiny 12 inch rims should be blamed for that as well, Although Palki says the model we received is a prototype and is still under testing. However, there are four wheel disc brakes which served their purpose quite well.
The City Boy 450 we tested is available for preorder through Palki's website and will cost Tk6,60,000, with five years of battery replacement warranty and vehicle service warranty, along with one year of motor warranty. The car is BRTA approved and can be registered.
Palki informs that spare parts will be available at the 3S (sales, service and spare parts) centres as soon as the car launches and spare parts can be delivered all throughout the country within 24 hours. The model can also be exchanged at Palki's showroom for a different model within three years after purchase.
The low end EV market has been surprisingly well accepted and adopted by Bangladeshis. It doesn't require much effort to find an electric auto rickshaw both in Dhaka, as well as the rural areas of Bangladesh. This is the market Palki plans to capture.
"At the moment, the closest automakers have come to making cars in Bangladesh is through their setup of assembly plants." Arifur Rahman said. "However, after our extensive research, we found that manufacturing cars, especially the models we offer, will not be an issue to manufacture locally. Thus, we plan to be the first," he added.
It's still too early to conclude whether Palki will be the next generation of electric auto rickshaws. However, the founders of Palki hope to fulfil the needs of people looking for affordable cars for day to day use, ridesharing, as well as for jobs such as intra-city deliveries.
