Bill Gates Drives Mahindra e-rickshaw, Finds it “Inspiring” for a Zero-Carbon Future

Anand Mahindra now asks Bill Gates to have an e-rickshaw drag race between the two and Sachin Tendulkar.

Bill Gates is in the headlines yet again, this time because of a recent Instagram post. The latest addition to his “Gates Notes” short video series shows the tech mogul driving an electric rickshaw in India. The video showcases Mahindra’s Treo e-rickshaw, and Bill Gates seemingly enjoying his ride on the electric vehicle. The post comes as an attempt to promote the use of electric vehicles as a more sustainable mode of transportation. And judging from how Gates felt after his drive, these battery-powered vehicles are the way to go.

“India’s passion for innovation never ceases to amaze,” he wrote in his Instagram post caption. “I drove an electric rickshaw, capable of traveling up to 131km (about 81 miles) and carrying up to 4 people,” the post mentions to Gates’ global audience. He further added that it is “inspiring seeing companies like Mahindra contribute to the decarbonization of the transportation industry.”

The video runs for just about 20 seconds but manages to give some important pointers on how the world needs to shift to the use of EVs for a sustainable future. It introduces the Mahindra Treo as the electric rickshaw from India that produces no emissions or even sound while moving. It then mentions how such EVs are going to be the prime option for a zero-carbon world in the future.

Now going viral online, the video is the latest coverage of Gates’ ongoing India tour, where he has already met several notable figures of the country and enjoyed some unique experiences. The Mahindra Treo video comes after Gates met his Harvard classmate Anand Mahindra, the renowned businessman who now serves as the chairman of the Mahindra Group. Mahindra has been spearheading the transition to EVs in India for a long time now and by introducing such EVs for both public and personal use cases, it seems well on the path to revolutionising the Indian transport system for good, along with other OEMs.