The invisible electric mobility: Examining the informalized electric rickshaw in Eastern India

India began its journey of embracing electric mobility in 2013; soon thereafter the three-wheeler electric rickshaw (e-rickshaw) became the answer to last mile connectivity in urban, suburban and rural parts of the country. While policies to promote Electric Vehicles have become a mainstay in the country, the modest e-rickshaw has received scant attention due to historical, social, and policy-based reasons. Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in West Bengal, India, this article critically examines the factors that have triggered this apparent invisibility. Using the framework of energy justice in electric mobility, we argue that the invisibility of this informal mode of transit is both cause and consequence of the precarious position of those who draw their livelihood from the e-rickshaw. First, the article highlights the intimate relationship between the colonial legacy of the e-rickshaw and the marginalized populace who is associated with it. Second, the article delves on the processes the marginalized e-rickshaw drivers and their households participate in (i.e. how they access their vehicle, their efforts to build social acceptance and a base of clients, the mechanisms through which they charge batteries, including electricity theft or ‘hooking’, and their dealings with the police) which render their participation in the process of energy transition invisible. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for policy benchmarking in addition to more grass-roots oriented policies associated with improving the legitimacy of the technology and the marginalized lives it affects.