Installing a CarPlay Display on a Chinese Electric Tuk Tuk: A Surprisingly Useful Upgrade

There are plenty of practical electric vehicles out there, but every now and then you come across something that is both useful and completely ridiculous.

For me, that's this little Chinese electric tuk tuk.

I bought it secondhand, rebuilt it with new batteries, added a trailer hitch, and turned it into one of the most useful little utility vehicles I've ever owned.

In this article, I'll take a closer look at the tuk tuk itself and show how I installed a CarPlay display from CarPide to make it even more practical.

The Electric Tuk Tuk

This is a Chinese-made electric tuk tuk that I bought secondhand and rebuilt.

The original batteries were replaced with four new 60V 20Ah batteries, giving the vehicle almost 5 kWh of battery capacity.

Depending on the load, terrain, and riding conditions, it can travel roughly 120 km on a charge.

For a small utility vehicle like this, that's more than enough for most of the things I use it for.

It almost never runs out of charge during normal use.

More Than Just a Tiny Electric Vehicle

The tuk tuk uses a motorcycle-style handlebar for steering, complete with a throttle and various controls.

The front cabin is small enough for one or two people, while the rear cargo area provides a surprisingly large amount of usable space.

And that's where this vehicle gets interesting.

I've installed a trailer hitch on the back, allowing it to pull conventional trailers.

We've even used it to tow a speedboat weighing close to two tons on a trailer.

For a vehicle this small, that's pretty ridiculous.

But that's also what makes it so useful.

It's perfect for moving things around the city, countryside, farms, workshops, or anywhere you need a small electric utility vehicle rather than a conventional car.

What Isn't So Great?

Of course, this little EV isn't perfect.

The biggest problem is the amount of rattling.

It is definitely not a silent ride.

The body and various components produce quite a lot of vibration and noise while driving, especially on rough roads.

It does have suspension at both the front and rear, but the suspension setup isn't particularly impressive.

The front fork bottoms out relatively easily, while the rear suspension doesn't really become effective until there is a significant amount of weight in the cargo area.

So while it looks like a proper suspension system, don't expect a particularly smooth ride when the vehicle is lightly loaded.

Surprisingly Complete Vehicle Equipment

One thing I really like about this tuk tuk is how many conventional vehicle features it includes.

You get:

• Front headlights

• Rear lights

• Brake lights

• Turn signals

• Hazard lights

• Horn

• Windshield wipers

It feels surprisingly close to a miniature utility vehicle rather than simply an oversized electric scooter.

We also installed several USB outlets, which are useful for charging phones or powering accessories such as a GPS speedometer.

There is even a voltage meter for monitoring the battery.

Unfortunately, the voltage meter is positioned in a rather awkward location, so checking the battery level isn't as convenient as it could be.

Why Add a CarPlay Display?

The next upgrade was adding a CarPlay display.

The CarPide display wasn't designed specifically for electric tuk tuks.

It is primarily intended for motorcycles and comes with mounting hardware designed for a motorcycle handlebar.

But that didn't stop us from adapting it.

The dashboard of the tuk tuk gave us a convenient place to install the display directly.

We simply drilled a few holes and screwed the mounting bracket directly into the dashboard.

The result actually turned out much better than expected.

Once installed, the display looks almost like it was designed specifically for the tuk tuk.

Powering the Display

The CarPlay display comes with a 12V power cable.

The tuk tuk itself runs on a much higher-voltage main battery system—around 62V.

That means the display cannot simply be connected directly to the main battery.

Instead, we use a 12V converter to provide the correct voltage for the display and other low-voltage accessories.

Once connected to the converter, the installation is straightforward.

This is an important consideration if you're installing electronics on a high-voltage electric vehicle: always make sure the accessory is receiving the correct voltage rather than connecting it directly to the main battery.

Using the CarPlay Display

Once the display is installed, using it is surprisingly simple.

Turn it on using the button on the side, connect your phone through Bluetooth, and you're ready to go.

The display provides several useful functions, including navigation and music controls.

For us, navigation is probably the most useful feature.

Having a dedicated screen mounted directly in front of you is much more convenient than constantly looking down at a phone.

The screen is also bright enough to remain easy to read outdoors, and the viewing angle can be adjusted to suit the driver.

More Than Just CarPlay

Another thing I like about the display is that it works more like a small tablet than a simple navigation screen.

You can control music, connect Bluetooth devices, and even pair a Bluetooth speaker and control the audio directly through the display.

That makes it useful not only for navigation but also as a general entertainment and information system.

For a tiny electric utility vehicle, it's a surprisingly nice upgrade.

Final Thoughts

This little Chinese electric tuk tuk is definitely not the most refined vehicle I've ever driven.

It rattles.

The suspension isn't particularly impressive.

The battery meter is awkwardly positioned.

And the whole thing feels more like a practical machine than a polished consumer product.

But that's also why I like it.

It's incredibly useful.

With almost 5 kWh of battery capacity, around 120 km of potential range, a large cargo area, and the ability to tow trailers, it can handle jobs that you wouldn't expect from something this small.

Adding the CarPide CarPlay display makes it even more useful.

The installation required a little improvisation, since the display wasn't designed for a tuk tuk, but the final result works extremely well.

It provides navigation, music control, Bluetooth connectivity, and a bright, adjustable screen—all without taking up much space.

Most importantly, it fits the personality of the vehicle perfectly.

The tuk tuk is already a strange combination of tiny electric vehicle and utility machine.

Now it has a modern infotainment system to match.

It's small, it's noisy, it's slightly ridiculous—and I absolutely love how useful it is.