NRI billionaire Manoj Bhargava to distribute stationary bikes to power homes in India

HOUSTON: An Indian-American billionaire plans to distribute 10,000 stationary bikes to India in a bid to provide electricity to millions of homes.

By 2016, Manoj Bhargava plans to test the first 50 bikes in 15 or 20 small villages in Uttarakhand, before larger distribution of the bikes.

According to Bhargava, the bikes will keep lights and basic appliances going for an entire day with just one hour of pedaling.

"This is going to affect a few billion people," Bhargava said. The main challenge for Bhargava is expected to be distribution.

While he doesn't intend to give the bike away, he'd prefer to incentivise distributors with profits.

He says a village can also pool its resources, buying one bike but multiple batteries that can be swapped out to power individual homes.

Michigan-based Bhargava whose family moved to the US in 1967, is set to distribute 10,000 free electric battery- equipped bikes in India in 2016.

The 62-year-old billionaire is also the creator of the famous 5-hour Energy drink.

Several practical inventions created by 100-or-so engineers at Bhargava's Stage 2 Innovations laboratory in Farmington Hills, Michigan, are based on relatively simple technologies that have been around for decades, but adapted to be more compact, mobile or efficient, USA Today reported.