E-vehicles set to zip around but govt yet to form rules

The planned introduction of at least 10,000 electric mopeds and scooters over the next 18 months by city-based micro mobility companies has caught government on the back foot even as it scrambles to develop new regulations to deal with the influx of vehicles.

An estimated 30,000 rental two-wheelers, including bicycles, are currently being operated in the city by various micro mobility companies who see their service as a low-cost model for effective public transportation.

Anand Ayyadurai, the CEO of Vogo, who registers an estimated 35,000 rides every day in Bengaluru from the company’s existing fleet of 12,000 two-wheelers (including 200 electric scooters), said that the current trends points to a future in which more Bangaloreans will abandon private ownership of vehicles in favour of public vehicle-sharing.

“In this situation, we are banking on electric vehicles to be more economically viable,” he said, adding that a conventional, gasoline-powered Vogo two-wheeler (typically a Honda Activa) costs the company Rs 6 per kilometre to operate, while an electric version of the same vehicle costs Rs 4 per kilometre.

He clarified that he expects the bulk of his company’s operations to be sustained by the addition of nearly 30,000 electric vehicles by 2021.

A second micro mobility firm, Yulu, has already augmented 5,000 traditional pedal cycles in the city with a thousand electric mopeds which have a top speed of 25 km per hour and a range of 60 km. For Yulu CEO, Amit Gupta, the new moped, which has been christened “Miracle”, gives consumers the option of a green power alternative.

But while Gupta, like Ayyadurai, sees electric vehicles dominating his company’s operations within a few months, government officials, however, expressed concern about the increase in vehicular traffic that these scooters will pose.

Ponnuraj V, the commissioner of the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), said that the government had not given permission for the deployment of so many vehicles, although he specified that Yulu had requested that officials regard the Miracle as a bicycle.

“We did no idea that so many vehicles are to be deployed in the city,” he said. “Yes, electric vehicles need support because they help cut down on pollution, but at the same time, the city, with its crippling traffic problems, needs fewer vehicles instead of more.”

He added that people should be using more non-motorized forms of transportation, such as walking and using bicycles. “The city’s public transport assets, including autorickshaws, should be upgraded into electric vehicles and then we should come to these scooters,” he said.