The success saga of 15 e-rickshaws that were launched here a year ago has resulted in the Cooperative Society of Auto Drivers’ Unions entering into agreements with two manufacturers to introduce another 250 such vehicles in the city in a month.
The first agreement to launch 50 e-rickshaws was inked on Friday with Kinetic Green, which introduced the 15 e-rickshaws as a pilot project. Yet another agreement was inked with Mahindra and Mahindra to roll out 200 of them.
They will initially operate in a 5-km radius from half-a-dozen metro stations in the Thykoodam-Aluva corridor. They will operate as feeder services to the metro, ensuring first- and last-mile connectivity to commuters.
The three-wheelers from the stable of Kinetic Green will operate on the basis of swapping a pair of drained-out batteries with recharged ones, every 50 km. Their Mahindra counterparts will have provision to recharge batteries every few kilometres, said sources in the cooperative society, which has around 5,000 drivers as members.
Kinetic Green has tied up with five fuel stations in the metro corridor, where fully-charged batteries will be available for being swapped. “The process will take just two minutes. Recharging of batteries will take up to three hours, by which time the driver will lose considerable number of trips. Moreover, fast charging is not advisable since it will affect battery life. The battery swapping method will ensure that they last approximately five years,” sources in the company said.
Earlier this month, the company had entered into a tie-up with BPCL to enable swapping of batteries that power electric three-wheelers. It will ensure hassle-free ownership for drivers since the expenses on batteries are over 30% of the cost of an e-rickshaw. By adopting the swap system, drivers need not bother about warranty or upkeep of batteries. E-rickshaws will be handed over to the cooperative society, for which ₹350 will have to be paid as daily rent to Kinetic Green. The energy cost per kilometre will be less than 50 paise, as compared to over ₹3 for diesel-run autorickshaws, they added.
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) is the technology partner for the venture.
Unlike e-autorickshaws, e-rickshaws will be one-metre wide and can seat four to five people. They are designed to move through even narrow bylanes. The upper speed limit is 25 kmph. The minimum fare per passenger is ₹10 for the first 2 km.