Lack of interest from the private sector forced Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) to abandon its plan to mass procure electric autorickshaws and e-rickshaws for use by aggregators through a tendering process.
According to ET, EESL Managing Director Saurabh Kumar said that the firm had invited expression of interest from aggregators for mass procurement of electric three-wheelers but the response was unsatisfactory.
He further explained that only two companies came forward. The cumulative demand was around 20,000 vehicles. The volumes are too small to make any difference in procurement costs and it is not possible for us to get into the business of operating these vehicles.
EESL is now working out the viability of procuring and leasing intra-city buses to state transport undertakings (STUs) to popularise the use of battery-powered vehicles on a mass scale, he said. EESL had invited expression of interest from agencies that may acquire large volumes of electric autorickshaws and electric-rickshaws from EESL for subsequent operations and services on August 4, 2017. EESL intended to run the ‘vehicle business’ by procuring high-quality e-ricks and e-autos from manufacturers and leasing these out to aggregators.
The aggregator was to operate and manage the electric fleet with maintenance support from the manufacturer and bear all operational and collection risks from running the EV business. A third party operating the ‘energy business’ was to provide the bulk charging and swapping facilities and offer charged batteries under a pay-per-use model.
