The Kerala Automobiles Limited (KAL), a public sector automotive company, is set to explore the idea of retrofitting old buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to turn them into electric buses.
The research and development work has now begun for the development of a prototype with the involvement of the KSRTC and the Sree Chitra Thirunal (SCT) College of Engineering in Pappanamcode.
Speaking to The Hindu, KAL Managing Director A. Shajahan said that the project was part of the industry-institution linkage plans now being promoted by the State government.
“The KSRTC has in its possession old diesel buses that are not so fuel-efficient, and are not put into service much. But the chassis and other parts of these buses might still be in a very good condition. Our plan is to retrofit such buses and turn them into electric buses. The R&D work has begun for this project,” he said.
He said that the KAL would sign memorandums of understanding with colleges including with a few other engineering colleges for technical collaboration as part of the industry-institution linkage programme. These collaborations would be mutually beneficial for the KAL as well as the students, as the company would be able to generate fresh ideas, while the students can make use of its facilities and technologies. The industry- institution linkage was one of the key elements of the master plan that the KAL had prepared, he said.
The company had also been getting enquiries from a few neighbouring Asian countries as well as from African countries for the ‘Kerala Neem G’ auto rickshaws that it developed, said Mr. Shajahan.
“Atleast till recently, there has been an issue of acceptance for e-autos in the State, as we still have only around 600 of these across all the districts. But with the drastic rise in fuel prices and the push towards e-mobility, there has been a rise in demand for e-autos. Our e-autos have proved their efficiency, while a private player was recently blacklisted by the Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited owing to issues with their e-auto model. We have opened dealerships now in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka too. The production capacity of our facility is also set to be increased,” said Mr. Shajahan.
