Ponkhiraj solar-powered irrigation vehicle, Digi Mart USA News (Bangladesh): Rising fuel prices can threaten the livelihoods of farmers in developing countries, and a new solar-powered vehicle called Ponkhiraj has been designed to help Bangladeshi farmers keep irrigating their fields during the dry season.
According to the publisher’s report, over 80% of the pumps used by rural Bangladeshi farmers to irrigate fields every dry season run on diesel, nearly all of which is imported. The report says that with the current US-Israel-Iran conflict driving fuel prices sharply higher, many farmers can no longer afford to run those pumps at all.
Global development organization BRAC developed Ponkhiraj, a three-wheeled vehicle named after a flying horse from Bangladeshi folklore. Instead of wings, it carries an array of 3.3-kW monocrystalline solar panels that fold out to either side when the vehicle is parked, delivering electricity through a hybrid controller to a 3-hp pump.
The pump draws water from a nearby source such as a canal or lake and delivers up to 60,000 liters (15,850 US gal) per hour onto the farmer’s fields. BRAC claims the vehicle can irrigate approximately 2.5 acres (1 hectare) per day at a cost equivalent to about 80 cents, compared with roughly US$8 to run a diesel pump for the same period.
The report adds that Ponkhiraj produces no toxic exhaust or carbon emissions and that its batteries can serve as a mobile power hub if needed.
The base vehicle is a modified electric version of the Tempu, a people- and cargo-hauler widely used across Bangladesh, and it can travel narrow rural roads from farm to farm. BRAC is now building more Ponkhirajs and, according to the report, intends to bring the technology to other developing nations outside Bangladesh.
The claimed cost and performance figures are BRAC’s own and have not been independently verified.
