Engineering firm ABB India said it has installed solar electric charging stations at Jabalpur to cater to 400 e-rickshaws, which will make it 30 percent cheaper than grid-connected power.
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“ABB India is providing critical technology through its solar inverters for solar-powered charging stations for e- rickshaws at four locations in Jabalpur,” a company statement said to ET.
According to details provided by the company, the rickshaw owner’s cost for recharging from the grid for a day is Rs 40- 50 where it is Rs 30 from the solar charging station installed by ABB India.
The company said Jabalpur currently has 5,000 petrol/ diesel rickshaws which emit 46 tonnes of carbon dioxide per day and consume 20,000 litres of fuel daily.
The solar charging stations would help 400 e-rickshaws save around 1,600 litres of fuel and 37 tonnes of CO2 emission per day, it said.
The solar-powered charging stations are part of a renewable energy project initiated by the Jabalpur Smart City Corporation. The solar panels are also connected to the state grid to feed in additional power generated through net metering.
“Such pilots are key to creating a wider eco-system of clean energy generation. It is an important step that this project has been included as part of the Smart City Mission, as this will aid faster deployment of such technology and also ultimately different modes of EVs and charging infrastructure can be explored with the required urban planning and development,” said Sanjeev Sharma, Managing Director, ABB India.
“We are creating renewable-based infrastructure for the e-rickshaws at nine locations throughout the city. For this project we generate solar power, some of which is fed back to the grid,” said Sachin Vishvakarma, CEO, Jabalpur City Transport Services Ltd.
