The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) is in talks with the government for a pilot project for electric two-wheelers in Goa. The project is expected to commence in a few months. Goa has been zeroed down upon as the first Indian state for the project as it will have the infrastructure in terms of centrally-funded battery-swapping station network.

According to Sohinder Gill, director, SMEV and CEO, Hero Electric, the pilot project envisages providing 300-500 electric two-wheelers without the batteries. These two-wheelers will be powered by lithium ion batteries made available at 16 battery-swapping stations.

“There will be trolleys at petrol bunks with eight charged batteries. Anyone who wants to rent a battery pays Rs 20 and keeps the battery for as long as he wants. At every 5-10km, there will be  another trolley of lithium ion batteries at a petrol bunk where a user can deposit the used battery and replace it with a charged one should he want travel 200km. So the rider is buying a charge and not the battery,” explains Gill.

SMEV has submitted a proposal to the Heavy Industries Ministry that has been forwarded to the Goa government. The state’s nodal agency will take a decision with the government providing battery funding.   

The target for the eco-friendly pilot project will be hotel owners and taxi operators. The aim is to take old vehicles off the roads and replace them with new electric two-wheelers minus batteries. Of them, half will be targeted at foreign tourists and the balance at individual entrepreneurs who run taxis between the airport and stations as two-wheeler taxis. In this way, the pilot project will be catered to by the electric two-wheelers supported by battery swapping stations. EV manufacturers are gearing up to make certified electric two-wheelers for the pilot with vehicles to be supplied on a tender process.

The pilot will run for three years and could be extended depending on its success. Plans are to replicate this in a few other states. So far, Gurgaon in the NCR has expressed its interest under the Raahgiri project which recently saw Delhiites cycling on the main city roads. Other likely locations could be PSUs such as Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. The Centre, SMEV and BHEL are currently in discussions to introduce electric in-campus mobility as well. Another area could be for travel in tourist spots such as the Taj Mahal in Agra.

According to Gill, the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP) has received all clearances by various ministries and is now with the finance ministry for funding. If all goes well, it could be implemented in 3-5 months.

New Delhi recently saw the influx of e-rickshaws after the transport ministry indicated that these vehicle did not need to be placed under the Central Motor Vehicles Act ambit. The SMEV fears this will lead to road congestion and make the e-rickshaws unsafe in the absence of proper certification and numberplate requirements. SMEV has been in talks with the ministry for e-rickshaws that are well certified and meet CMVA norms.  “We are ready to manufacture well-certified e-rickshaws that go through the proper route. The National Institute of Design has been working on it as has the IIT that has done some planning,” says Gill. He suggests that for private institutions keen to design e-rickshaws, the government could float a design contest.

Meanwhile, Firefly Battery plans to offer an alternative to the expensive but high-performance lithium ion batteries. It is setting up a plant in Ahmedabad to make microcell carbon foam batteries that it claims offer the same performance levels of 1000 cycles as lithium ion batteries but are almost 40 percent cheaper. The technology has been sourced from Caterpillar Inc of USA that developed the technology and later became part of Firefly Energy. 

Photograph (L-R): Manu Sharma, assistant director, SMEV; Sohinder Singh Gill, director, corporate affairs, SMEV; Pavan Sachdeva, VP, SMEV; and Basant Vaishya, VP, SMEV, at media meet in New Delhi today.