New Delhi: In a bid to promote emission-free last-mile connectivity, the Delhi government for the first time has started giving bulk permits to set up ‘electric-auto-rickshaw footprints’ in specific localities to connect households to metro stations in Delhi. .
Currently, around 86 such e-vehicles are plying on Delhi roads, launched under a joint venture between the Delhi government’s transport department and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on the public-private partnership (PPP) model. Are.
“Earlier permits were given to individuals but this time they have been given in bulk to Delhi Metro which in turn has partnered with private companies like Sun Mobility to establish autorickshaw footprint in a defined geography and this experiment has started in Dwarka it was done. Delhi Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra told ThePrint.
Kundra further explained how these e-autos were an innovation as they operated as per the ‘hub and spoke model’, wherein ‘base stations’ or parking and battery-swapping facilities would be provided at metro stations in Dwarka. , Dwarka Sector-21 and Janakpuri West. E-three-wheelers, on the other hand, will be geo-fenced (using a location-aware device to establish a virtual perimeter for a geographic area of the real world) and will be allowed to roam only in nearby areas.
The ‘hub and spoke’ paradigm refers to a distribution method in which there exists a centralized ‘hub’ that organizes routes as a series of ‘spokes’ that connect outlying points. In this case, the e-auto-rickshaw will not be allowed to move away from the pre-defined areas or provide services.
The ‘experimental model’ was started in Dwarka last year with 50 e-autos by Sun Mobility and extended to Azadpur area with 36 EV autos by ETO Motors and now the Delhi government is looking to scale it up by introducing it in areas like Rohini. is planning. another sub-city), Chhatarpur and NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Committee) area.
Kundra said the plan was to target places where people come from far off places and need more connectivity options to go further into the city.
Sun Mobility’s e-autos run on a 6.3-kilowatt-hour capacity lithium-ion swappable battery with a range of 80-90 km. According to the company executive, the vehicle has a top speed of around 50 kmph (kmph).
The e-autos from ETO Motors run on a Lithium-Ion battery with a capacity of 7.37 kWh, which charges within 3-4 hours and can run up to 100 km on a single charge. The top speed of the vehicle is 45 kmph.
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encouraging women drivers
According to transport department and DMRC officials, since the e-autos were running at a nominal base price of Rs 10 for the first two km and Rs 5 for each subsequent km at an affordable shared fare for commuters, This will encourage mass adoption. E-three wheelers for the first time in the capital.
“The introduction of these e-autos will improve last-mile connectivity for commuters in nearby areas. In recent years, DMRC has launched several eco-friendly initiatives to ensure a robust last-mile connectivity system, which enables commuters to prefer non-polluting public transport modes over private vehicles. DMRC.
A focused effort has also been made to employ more women drivers. Though in PPP model, the responsibility of providing drivers rests with the private players, the government is encouraging more women to get involved with permits given/reserved for them as compared to their male counterparts.
For instance, ETO Motors in Azadpur has trained and deployed only women drivers.
other efforts
In addition to DMRC’s fleet of 100 small electric buses which will soon be taken over by the Delhi government and additional 380 feeder e-buses operated by the transport department to ease movement from homes/commercial centers to metro stations has floated tenders for another 4,000 e-buses, half of which will be 9 meters tall.
“Traditionally, 12 meter long buses ply in the city, but these new buses will be smaller and will be used either as ‘metro feeders’ or ‘rural feeders’. This will help in providing transport where bigger buses are far away. -Can’t reach commuters from remote areas to take main bus or metro lines to their localities,” Kundra explained.
Though e-autos and e-buses are currently being pushed by the government, the latter has been found unviable as it is underutilized and run under capacity. E-autos have been found to be more suited to e-buses for last-mile connectivity, while the latter work best for intra-city transport.
According to officials, the e-autos were also safer than e-rickshaws, which were originally conceptualized for last-mile connectivity, but not anymore as they were neither fit for main roads nor used for that. But to walk because it used to disrupt the traffic.
Edited by Githalakshmi Ramanathan
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