Electrified: AEC plans battery-operated rickshaws in city

Those who curse the smoke-belching auto rickshaws running on solvent and kerosene in the city, there is hope ahead. Battery-operated rickshaws may soon hit the city roads. A feasibility report being put together by the Ahmedabad Electric Company (AEC) points out that this version of rickshaws would work well in he city.

"The project was conceived out of our attempt to optimise our generation capacity during night, when the generation drops drastically leading to a massive wastage of power," says AEC managing director Ravi Vora.

In summers, the company has a peak demand of 600 MW per day. This drops to 400 MW during the night in summers and is as low as 325 MW in winters.

With a generation capacity of 500 MW daily, the company under-utilises its generation capacity by 100 MW each night in summers and by about 175 MW each night in winters.

Since power cannot be stored, this translates into huge losses for the AEC. This is where the battery-operated rickshaws come in the picture. If battery-operated rickshaws bit the road, then the nighttime capacity of the AEC would be better utilised as batteries on which the rickshaws would operate would be charged.

"Our cost for this project will be low as we already have infrastructure for charging batteries at our Naranpura, Sabarmati, Odhav, Naroda, Amraiwadi, Thaltej, Jamalpur and Vasna sub-stations," says AEC vice president (personnel and administration) Babu Patel.

The company is working together with Bajaj Auto Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Bangalore based Reva Corporation and Scooters India Ltd on the project. It is being funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Bajaj Auto will launch electric rickshaws and once the technology gains acceptance, the company will undertake the conversion of petrol-run rickshaws.

The conversion of petrol-run rickshaw to electric rickshaws would involve replacing the present rickshaw engine with a motor, a gear box and a battery.

This version of rickshaws, at present, is being manufactured by Lucknow-based Scooter India Ltd. There are already 50 such rickshaws operating in Lucknow while the company has supplied 20 to Delhi, five to Agra and 100 to Nepal.

Scooter India's rickshaws run on Exide batteries while Tudor India Ltd in Gujarat manufactures automobile batteries at Himatnagar.

These batteries can be charged to full capacity in six to eight hours and the available battery technology will enable it to run up to 80-100 km after charging.

"Rickshaws operating on electricity will be able to cut cost by 60 per cent," says Patel.

AEC will implement the demo-project in a month. However, it is being applauded most for the zero-pollution feature.

"If the financial aspect can be worked out well then this is a commendable initiative on the part of AEC," says Samiulla Ansari, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), who has been shouting hoarse that traffic constables on the road are being exposed to toxic fumes, much of it coming from auto-rickshaws.

"Today we have 55,000 rickshaws, which run on kerosene and solvent, spewing poison into the air. If this project is successful then all of us, including the rickshaw operators, will be able to breathe easier," Ansari says.

Compiled from local news media