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Battery-operated scooters

R. Ramabhadran Pillai

Savings on fuel bill attract customers

— Photo: H. Vibhu

POWER DRIVE: The electric two-wheelers launched in Kochi.

KOCHI: The two-wheeler market is set to witness a change with the arrival of battery-operated vehicles in Kochi. The electric scooter has been introduced in the city by a Bangalore-based company and is slowly gaining acceptance among the people.

The two-wheeler operates on battery that can be recharged. It takes 4-5 hours for charging the four-battery pack used in the vehicle. The battery can be charged by simply plugging on to the electric power supply available at home or office. It requires less than one unit of power for charging the batteries fully, according to the distributors of the vehicle. A vehicle with a fully charged battery system is claimed to be capable of running about 50 km. The battery could be recharged for further use.

As the vehicle does not need petroleum fuel, the customer will gain immensely, according to S.K. Ani who heads the distribution in Kochi. His agency has already distributed 48 vehicles in Kochi since the outlet was opened on November 30, according to him.

The agency has been operating in Thiruvananthapuram for the past one-and-a-half years. More than 900 vehicles had been sold there, he said. An outlet was opened in Palakkad three months ago and the response from the customers was encouraging, he said.

The parent company has plans to open more outlets across the State.

It has a manufacturing unit at Mahaboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh. About 60 per cent of the parts are manufactured there while the components like charger, controller and motor are being imported from China, according to Mr. Ani.

The parts imported now could be manufactured in India, but that might incur higher cost, he said.

The vehicle rider required a driving licence for operating a two-wheeler, but certifica0tion on pollution was not required, as there was no pollution arising out of burning of petroleum fuel, according to him. It produced much less noise in comparison to the two-wheelers run on petrol.

The vehicle was running without major problems, according to Ajith Kumar, a customer who had been using the vehicle for about one-and-a-half years.

While the petrol bill could be saved, there were limitations in carrying weight, he pointed out. With higher load, the mileage would be affected, he said.

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