A journey or A Dream – Once you know this story then your realize that it’s a life time memory for the Mr. Naveen Rabelli.

Hyderabad to London covered this with solar electrified Tuk-Tuk.

An engineer by profession decided to spread the awareness of clean and sustainable transport and made a history by travelling from Hyderabad to London by solar electrified Tuk-Tuk. Yes, we all know and very well familiar with the Tuk-Tuk in India. But Naveen Rabelli came with a challenging idea to modify it and made it ready to drive without petrol.

Who is Naveen Rabelli: 
Naveen Rabelli is basically from India only and did his engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (Hyderabad) , Masters from RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia). He is also having working experience with Mahindra Electric.

What was the Mission:
To spread the awareness about clean energy and to shape Sustainable Mobility Solutions.

Action:
Naveen covered the journey from Hyderabad to London by his solar powered Tuk-Tuk.

Vehicle Specification:
Tuk-Tuk named as ‘Tejas’. Basically ‘Tejas’ was the modified Piaggio ape 3-wheeler. Used electric motor of 5 kw which was powered by Lithium-ion batteries. These batteries used to charge from the solar panel fitted on the roof as well as on vehicle body side area. Solar power generated by the panels is around 600 W in total, out of which 500 W will be used for charging batteries for the drive and 100 W for charging batteries for accessories like lights, computer, camera, electric cooker and laptop.
Range: 80 kms approx.  and 25 kms with direct sunlight. 
Top speed: 60kmph
Payload: 500 kg. 

How it all started: 
During one of his interview Naveen said – He has this dream to travel to Europe by road. In 2010 he travelled Australia to India by road by that journey was became so expensive and major expenses was for fuel. In local area ‘Hyderabad’ a lot of Tuk Tuk were burning a so much of fuel and indirectly polluting the atmosphere. Same time in 2010 he joined the Mahindra Electric and worked on Mahindra Reva as well as on Mahindra eVerito projects. While working with these electric technologies his will to so case the power of sustainable energy got strengthen and he decided to plan a epic journey.

Preparation Phase:
Naveen was living in Bangalore. He brought a new Tuk-Tuk and modified it with new electric motor, gearbox and solar panels. It’s took him to 2 years to build that from scratch. This was completely Indian make vehicle.

Naveen planned his journey from Hyderabad to London along with his one of friend. He consistently worked to get the sponsorship from corporate and with the help of Mehaboob Basha he completed the fabrication work. Naveen hopes to use his trip to spread awareness about the power and potential of clean energy. “It’s really feasible,” he explains. “A person like me in a garage can make it and live his dream of travelling from India to London, so maybe in the future we can really see it’s quite possible.”

 Challenges :

As someone said the challenges are the inseparable part of any journey. Same happened with the Naveen Rabelli. Money problem came during the vehicle modification. Anyway, he succeeds to manage all the things by getting sponsorship and by spending he life’s savings.

Naveen Rabelli has been helped by strangers along his journey, which took him through Iran, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. He sleeps in his auto-rickshaw when not offered accommodation and managed to save up money along the way.
People donated. He sold olive oil in a market, sold the postcards, sold Greek liquor. 
During journey only his passport and 1000 euros was stolen in France. But he overcame all the challenges and completed his journey.