Bokaro: Stung by a spiralling prices of petrol and diesel, many people in Bokaro are giving up their traditional vehicles, particularly two-wheelers, and shifting to those that run on electricity.
City-based advocate Ranjit Giri bought an electric two-wheeler on Monday for his day-to-day commute. He said, “Besides being eco-friendly, e-vehicles are becoming a necessity for daily commute considering the uncontrolled rise of fuel prices. Irrespective of which political party is in power, none cares about the common people when it comes to fuel prices.”
He added that the decision to switch will be easy on the pocket in the long run. “Depending on the model, a new e-scooty runs 60-110km on an electric charge of three units, which comes to Rs 18. This is much cheaper than a liter of petrol, which is around Rs 88 in this city these days,” he said, adding that the scooty cost him Rs 60,000, which is again cheaper than two-wheelers that run on petrol.
Rising inflation since the lockdown is making it difficult for people to sustain as jobs are scarce and salaries have been cut. “We also have to think about our savings. The rise in petrol prices has affected the market and our earnings. I bought an e-scooty recently to save some money,” added Sunil Singh, another resident.
Increasing awareness about e-vehicles is also making companies set up shops in the district. Showroom owners maintained that footfall has increased manifold in comparison to the pre-lockdown period. There are three electric vehicle showrooms in City Centre and they are seeing a rise in inquiries and customers visiting the store.
Sheetal Sinha, owner of IB Motors at City Centre, said, “Assessing the rising demand of electric vehicles, we opened our showroom on February 16. In such a short time, we have many inquiries while six vehicles are booked and few of them are already sold. We were not expecting such a response so early. The coming days belong to electric vehicles as they are economical, pollution-free and good on the roads.”
Targeting students, electric vehicle manufacturers have also launched a few models that do not require a registration number. Their speed limit is fixed at 25km, making it safer for youngsters. This model is also high in demand as many parents fear that the rise in fuel prices will lead to an increase in school bus fees.