The city of Kochi is set to receive the first lot of e-autorickshaws, with 100 of them expected to be launched by August-end.
A total of 120 drivers completed a four-day training programme organised by Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) on Friday. Training was imparted to them in driving the autos, soft skills, and trauma care.
The e-autos initiative is a joint endeavour of UN-Habitat, an agency that promotes socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities; German agencies GIZ and Wuppertal Institute; Ernakulam Jilla Auto Drivers Cooperative Society (EJADCS); Kochi Corporation; and Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C-HED), an institution functioning as the research and development wing of the civic agency in the fields of urban development, governance, environment, tourism, culture and heritage.
“The roll-out of the e-autos is part of the e-mobility scheme in order to promote sustainable and eco-friendly modes of commute,” said Mayor M. Anilkumar. “More e-autos will be introduced, based on the response from the pilot initiative. A fleet of electric cargo autos too has been planned, to ferry goods to the Ernakulam market [as part of Eco-logistics project],” he added.
The initial plan to roll out 20 e-autos on a pilot basis under UN-Habitat plan was expanded to 100 e-autos after GIZ expressed its willingness to subsidise another 80 vehicles. Each of the three-seater e-autos cost ₹2.40 lakh. The ₹50,000 per vehicle subsidy from the two agencies (which together contributed ₹67 lakh to the venture) will be in addition to a ₹30,000-subsidy by the State government. Efforts were under way to replace much of the 7,000 autos that operate in the city with their electric counterparts, in the long run, official sources said.
The MVD has permitted the operation of e-autos in the Greater Kochi area as shared autos.
The Secretary of Autorickshaw Drivers Union (AITUC), Binu Varghese, who is also an office bearer of EJADCS, said five battery-swap stations have been established – at Palarivattom, Kaloor, Kadavanthra, Elamkulam and Chullikal, as a precursor to the launch of the e-auto fleet. The drivers will wear turquoise-blue shirts and dark blue pants. Talks are under way with Kochi Metro Rail Limited to assess whether they can also operate on the metro’s feeder routes. He attributed the two-year delay in rolling out the fleet of e-autos to logistical and other issues related to the pandemic.
Recharging stations have been proposed in many areas, once 200 more e-autos are launched to operate feeder services from metro stations, it is learnt.
