Tiger New Energy: Two Harvard alums look to change how three-wheelers are powered in Bangladesh

Mechanised three-wheelers are currently the main mode of local transport for crores of commuters in the country. According to informal estimations, there are 2.5 to 3 million electric three-wheelers in Bangladesh. 

These vehicles run on lead-acid batteries, which take seven to eight hours to get fully recharged. This impacts the ride-time, consequently reducing a driver's earning. Often, drivers put their batteries on fast charging, thus ending up reducing their service life. Besides, frequent power cuts increase the worries of drivers.

Apart from taking a long time, the informal charging arrangements have been a headache for the government, as many of the garages use illegal connections, leading to a huge loss of revenue for the power distribution companies.

This has been the order of things for three-wheelers for the last one and half decade since these vehicles became popular in Bangladesh.

Now, the process of charging the vehicles' batteries might change very soon, as a company called Tiger New Energy (TNE) is working to set up battery swapping stations for three wheelers.

These stations, basically a charging cabinet for batteries, will be set up in three-wheeler garages, and drivers will be able to swap their out-of-juice batteries with recharged ones. The batteries are lithium based, and way lighter than lead-acid batteries, making them easy to swap.

The founders of the company, two Harvard graduates, are saying the centrally monitored swapping stations will also ensure that electricity is not stolen from the national grid, thus easing a major concern of the government.

"Our mission and vision is to revolutionise sustainable mobility in emerging markets. Our solution combines both hardware and software. For the hardware part, our main product is the battery and it is the core of our technology. Using the advantage of the battery, we are setting up battery swapping stations, so users like the rickshaw pullers don't have to spend lots of money to buy batteries," Nicole Mao, the CEO of Tiger New Energy, told The Business Standard.

"Users won't have to worry about recharging their batteries even though the electricity supply is not stable. They can ride their vehicles as long as they want and if the battery capacity gets low, they can always go back to the station and swap a new battery. So one can operate for a longer period and earn more money, " Nicole added.

TNE will use LFP batteries (lithium ferrophosphate) in their swapping stations, whose  energy density is significantly higher than conventional lead-acid batteries. LFP batteries are safer in hot climates like Bangladesh's, than other lithium variants. And although LFP batteries are more expensive, its longer lifespan eventually brings down the cost. This is how TNE is planning to provide the service at a lower cost, further increasing income for the three-wheeler owners.

"Lead-acid batteries only last six to eight months, while lithium batteries can be used for three to five years. So, although the price of the latter is higher, the unit value in terms of time is lower for lithium batteries," said Yiwei Zhu, chief operating officer (COO) of TNE, who is an electrical engineer.

Yiwei and Nicole both went to  Harvard Business School for their MBA degrees, where they first met. Yiwei got her electrical engineering degree from University of Michigan and had worked in Alibaba Group as a product manager in Southeast Asia. 

Nicole earned her undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia in Canada, and another master's in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy school. Before Harvard, Nicole was a management consultant working at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). 

Nicole has a family business in batteries in China with strong global connections over 30 years, something that gives a robust foundation to TNE's venture in Bangladesh.

Starting in Bangladesh in 2021, TNE has also been selling maintenance-free lead-acid batteries for motorcycles, cars and electrical equipment like IPS and generators. For the swapping stations, however, it will only use lithium-based batteries.

An already existing production and supply chain gives TNE the necessary confidence to plan to bring a fundamental change in the three-wheeler battery market which, although thought and discussed about earlier, nobody showed the determination to materialise.

"Although the technology is new to Bangladesh, it's quite mature in Taiwan, in China and in other places in Southeast Asia, including India. People often get uncomfortable when they see something new, but once they understand the idea, we are pretty confident that the idea will get spread out pretty fast. That's why we took the initiative to take the lead, to utilise the untapped potential here," COO Yiwei said.

The swapping station is equipped with a bunch of latest and nice technologies. Users will have touch and go cards to access the swapping machine, and once their cards are out of funds, they can refill it from the garage. The swap will take only a minute. Also, the franchise partner, typically a garage owner who will be hosting the swapping station, will be able to see everything from the consumption of electricity to his income, on the smartphone, through an app. 

There is a temperature sensor in the station, so if it is overheated, the system will stop charging automatically, thus eliminating the risk of fire. Moreover, just in case, there is an in-built aerosol fire suppression system. 

The batteries used in the system take less time to get recharged. According to Yiwei, it only requires 25 minutes to charge it from 30% to 80% of its level. 

"Just like the car battery, to charge a battery from 80% to 100% normally takes longer. We want to run the battery swapping station in high efficiency, so we set up the station in a way so when the battery is charged up to 80%, it's ready for use. But if the station has enough time, it can charge it up to 100%," Yiwei said.

TNE is using two types of batteries: 48 volt for the rickshaws, and the other is 60 volt, to be used in larger three-wheelers called easy bikes. The big one weighs around 18 KG.

The battery and the station are GPS embedded, so if the battery gets stolen, the franchise partners can find it. 

TNE is currently busy setting up the network of franchise partners across the country, the company said.

"The deals are ongoing. We will have our partners within the next few weeks. We have a lot of interested parties coming in from all around the country, starting from Rajshahi, Narail, Feni and the list goes on. It's just a matter of time before you get to witness the swapping stations around," said KBM Nasiruzzaman, the head of communications of the company.

So, how big is the market? We asked.

"Right now there are around 3 million rickshaw or easybike drivers. So if one station serves around 15 users, then the total market needs 200,000 battery swapping stations," Yiwei said.

Asked if she thinks there is space for more actors in the market, Yiwei said, "Only relying on Tiger New Energy is not enough to transition Bangladesh to cleaner mobility. So we are welcoming collaboration from more partners. And there will be space for others. We encourage them to join us, but we are not worried about others," The COO concluded. 

About the ambition of the company, the CEO Nicole said, "Bangladesh is the first country that we entered and would like to use Bangladesh's experience and basing in Bangladesh, apply our solution beyond the country."