To give a push to the concept of ‘Green Mobility for Clean Air’, zealously pursued by the government, the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP), the State nodal agency for promotion of electric vehicles, has developed e-mobility, a single window mobile application for sanctioning and monitoring of electric two-wheelers in the State.
Of the different categories of electric vehicles, the corporation is currently focussed on two-wheelers with an objective to phase out the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles by 2024 in four major cities and in all cities by 2030.
Air pollution
“Emissions from ICE-powered motor vehicles are responsible for about two-thirds of air pollution in the urban areas. To phase out the older, inefficient and polluting vehicles and, in turn, promote the use of environment-friendly vehicles, the Centre has also announced a vehicle scrappage policy in the recent Union Budget. Among the ICE vehicles, two-wheelers comprise about 79% of the total number of vehicles,” says S. Ramana Reddy, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, NREDCAP.
To prove the advantages of using the eco-friendly mode of transport and popularise e-mobility, the corporation intends to promote 1 lakh electric two-wheelers among the government employees (especially, the village and ward secretariat employees) over a period of one year, and based on the demand, increase the number further.
Zero down payment
The NREDCAP will provide support up to three years for battery, Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) and insurance, assures Mr. Reddy, explaining that the cost of average fuel charges of a two-wheeler that runs on petrol is more compared to the EMI plus power charges of an electric two-wheeler, besides the additional advantage of environment and health benefits.
Under the scheme launched by the corporation exclusively for the government employees, the buyer will be spared the burden of down payment.
“With zero down payment, the buyer can take home the electric two-wheeler and pay the vehicle cost in 36-60 equated monthly instalments of ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 (including AMC and insurance for three years), and operate the vehicle in the range of 80 km per single charge at a speed of 50 kmph,” says Mr. Reddy.
Explaining about the mobile application, he says the buyer will be intimated through an SMS about the approval and virtual ID. He will also be directed to approach the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) for payment of the first instalment.
The DDO will update the database of the buyer’s willingness to deduct the EMI from the salary and make the payment of the instalment. The DDO will also update the Unique Transaction Reference (UTR) number and the buyer’s details in the portal, along with the virtual ID, and the banker will verify the amount received through the UTR number / Virtual ID.
The NREDCAP is in talks with electric two-wheeler manufacturers such as Hero MotoCorp, Okinawa, Kinetic, Sahara, and a few other companies who are willing to supply their products on EMI basis.
The corporation has established 102 charging stations in the State.
“The NTPC will set up another 400 charging stations at 73 locations in the cities of Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Kakinada,” informs Mr. Reddy.
