Cardano had a rough start this week with an outage of more than half of its network. Things have been fixed shortly after the incident happened and got a little bit brighter this week. Not because of Cardano’s nodes, but because of a small automotive project in Sri Lanka that is leveraging its blockchain technology.

What is eTukTuk, and how does the project use Cardano to help its customers and the environment?

TukTuks are more common than you think

Europeans are used to their cars that offer enough space for passengers and luggage. The only region where cars are bigger on average and offer even more space is North America. However, not everywhere in the world is enough space on the roads to fit in an SUV behemoth. Instead, tiny cars and motorcycles are defining mobility in everyday life.

TukTuks are basically motorized rickshaws, and they are very common in Asia. It is estimated that India alone is producing around 530,000 TukTuk per year for its own market and 300,000 more for exports to other countries. That being said, TukTuks have become ubiquitous in many countries in Asia, including Sri Lanka.

Ordering a TukTuk or renting one is fairly easy in Sri Lanka, but is only recommended if you know how to deal with the traffic that is way different from what we are used to here at home.

Electronic TukTuks powered by Cardano’s network

Sri Lanka has over 1.2 million registered TukTuks on its road, and each one is, in fact, emitting more CO2 into the air than a regular car. eTukTuk aims to improve this situation by establishing the infrastructure that is needed for electronic TukTuks.

By incentivizing the growth of charging stations using Cardano, eTukTuk wants to build a network of stations to increase availability to recharge the TukTuks and lower the time that owners have to wait to get a spot for charging. Neither credit cards nor cash will be needed to recharge a TukTuk which is meant to make it easier for drivers to adopt eTukTuk. Passengers will also be rewarded, since eTuTuk wants to create a blockchain ecosystem that is supporting a sustainable solution for transportation by incentivizing all parties involved.

But the plans don’t stop there. By producing EVs locally, eTukTuk wants to improve the availability of suitable vehicles in Sri Lanka. Needless to say, these plans are highly ambitious, and it remains to be seen if eTukTuk can convince the local populace of their model. Last year, the country faced an economic crisis and an oil shortage that was partly caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine. While it seems logical to start building an alternative for transportation, tensions during an economic crisis are usually high. This is not making it exactly easier to bring in new ideas. Sir Lanka is not the only region where Cardano gets involved. IOG is active in different regions in Africa and while the company is not directly involved with eTukTuk, it seems that helping out developing countries has become an important goal for projects associated with Cardano.