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An interesting article, though a couple of trivial points bugged me. I suppose it’s due to the death of editors. > a partnership between Kakkar and his partne
by gumby 3y ago
An interesting article, though a couple of trivial points bugged me. I suppose it’s due to the death of editors.
> a partnership between Kakkar and his partner Sanjeev Pahwa’s cycle-rickshaw company and a traditional tuk-tuk manufacturer.
I have never heard the term tuk-tuk used in India — I believe it’s a Thai word used in some other countries. Of course the rickshaw and, cycle rickshaw and auto-rickshaw were all imports via the British. But the term jumped out while reading the sentence.
> the natural magnet for the motor and critical minerals for the battery, have to come from China because they do not naturally occur in India
While it’s unsurprising that the (likely rare earth — India has iron) magnet et al have to be imported, it’s not like rare earths are rare, and a country the size of India and with its geography could find them, and eventually will (as the article says they are with lithium).
- alephnerd 3y agoThe 3 wheeler e-rickshaws in India mostly use Lead Acid Batteries to keep costs down in order to undercut the incentives to buy an auto-rickshaw (eg. Union membership, not getting beat up with a tire iron, less bribes) 81% of all EV batteries in India are Lead-Acid [0] From a Lithium dependency standpoint, the Indian government made exclusivity deals with Australia, Argentina, and Chile [1][2] to mine Lithium and transfer lithium enrichment technology to Indian companies. That said, it would take a decade for this to pan out. > But the term jumped out while reading the sentence Shows the credibility (or lack thereof) of the article. There is an EV boom in India, but this article accidentally turned into a submarine article. [0] - https://www.batteriesinternational.com/2022/09/01/lead-in-driving-seat-for-indian-evs-lithium-closing-gap/ https://www.batteriesinternational.com/2022/09/01/lead-in-dr... [1] - https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/india-tapping-into-australia-for-more-lithium-mines/article67593334.ece https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/india-tapping-i... [2] - https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/01/27/indias-long-road-to-lithium/ https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/01/27/indias-long-road-to-lit...
- pfdietz 3y agoIndia has monazite; it's one of the reason they've had interest in thorium for thermal breeder reactors. Monazite is also an ore for REEs.
- fuzztester 3y agoI was just about to mention thorium separately, in reply to gumby's comment above about the size of the subcontinent and its mineral potential, then saw your comment mentioning thorium, and decided to piggyback on it: I have read somewhere that the black sands of Kerala's coast are black due to thorium. I have read that more than once, in different places. I just googled monazite: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monazite https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monazite Excerpt: [ Monazite is an important ore for thorium,[8] lanthanum, and cerium.[9] It is often found in placer deposits. India, Madagascar, and South Africa have large deposits of monazite sands. The deposits in India are particularly rich in monazite. Monazite is radioactive due to the presence of thorium and, less commonly, uranium. ]
- itikasp 3y agoHi there, I was one of the editors on this piece, and I am an Indian so I completely understand your remark on the use of the word tuk-tuk. But there's a reason we used it in just one place in the story — RestofWorld has a global audience and in many parts of the world our readers don't really understand what a "rickshaw" or "3-wheeler" is. So we made this choice for their benefit. Hope that provides you some context... and, well, also... I am alive :)
- pcthrowaway 3y agoNice to see some more "mainstream" tech journalists popping into HN! I enjoyed the article btw. (By mainstream I mean pertaining to less niche topics, e.g. articles about market penetration of alternative form factor EVs, vs. "the new version of eslint is now stable")
- gumby 3y agoThanks, mostly these days of course the writer has to also be their own editor :-(. BTW my bit about mining and India's geography: it's not just that the subcontinent is large, and mining is a statistics game, but because it has (I don't know the official term) "collision" mountains (like California's Sierras and not like the Appalachian range that crosses north america and Europe) there are lots of opportunities for underground minerals to be brought to the surface. I expect India will be a resource exporter like Australia and Russia within the next 50 years.
- throw7 3y agoI have family in the north-east and I've heard them use the term tuk-tuk before. They'll also use the term auto-rickshaw for the ICE ones.
- mangamadaiyan 3y agoOP likely missed typing the 'r' -- or was the victim of autocorrect :)
- GoToRO 3y agoAny company that makes a classic looking tuk-tuk, but electric?
- manquer 3y ago> I have never heard the term tuk-tuk used in India Articles written to be read by audiences not the subject. For a global audience tuk tuk is the better word
- fuzztester 3y ago>I have never heard the term tuk-tuk used in India — I believe it’s a Thai word used in some other countries. Of course the rickshaw and, cycle rickshaw and auto-rickshaw were all imports via the British. I have heard the term tuk-tuk used in India, but only sparingly and only in the last few years, mainly by foreign tourists. Before that and even now, the common terms used were / are rickshaw / riksha, auto-rickshaw and just plain auto; auto is the one used most commonly by Indians (probably because a lot of us use C; just kidding, ha ha, the percentage of devs to the total population is a drop in the bucket. I've also heard the term tuk-tuk used a good amount in digital nomad videos, particularly about southeast Asia, so you're probably right, gumby, about it being a Thai-origin term.