EAPL launches e-rickshaw awareness meets covering 10 districts of WB

The city of Kolkata and nearby districts witnessed several awareness drives on e-rickshaw batteries in the last few weeks. Eastman Auto and Power Limited (EAPL), a leading company in energy storage and solar solutions, has embarked on a one-of-a-kind initiative to sensitize people about the benefits of e-rickshaw overall and what kind of batteries are best suited for this vehicle.

The company has chosen West Bengal as the epicentre of the initiative as the state already has a burgeoning E-Rickshaw population. The objective of the campaign is to create awareness about the usage of e-rickshaw batteries and apprise the stakeholders (E-Rickshaw owners and trade) of the factors that affect the performance of these batteries. Beginning from Berhampur, the campaign has embraced cities such as Katwa, Bardhaaman, Howrah, Barasat, Midnapur, Siliguri, Cooch Behar and Nadia in West Bengal.

“This innovative campaign has been conceptualized with an objective to sensitize relevant stakeholders about the benefits of using the e-rickshaw battery. E-vehicles are the future of India’s energy roadmap. The campaign is closely aligned to our vision to play an instrumental role in reducing the country’s carbon footprint,” said Saurabh Srivastava – President, Marketing and Product Strategy-Eastman Auto & Power Limited.

As a part of the campaign, attendees are made aware of technical know-how in handling an e-rickshaw battery, maintaining battery health and taking preventive actions to prolong battery life and performance. For this EAPL has also created a bespoke video that in an easy manner illustrates maintenance and how using the right charger prolongs the battery life overall.

The campaign is aligned to the government’s vision to achieve 100% electric mobility by 2030.  In 2013, the Indian government launched the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020  with a target of six to seven million EVs on Indian roads by 2020.

“The campaign was useful in making us aware of the usage of tubular e-rickshaw batteries and training us in handling them. I would like to thank Eastman Auto and Power Limited for undertaking this initiative,” said Shamal Kumar Saha, a trade partner.

The company also plans to initiate this campaign in major re-rickshaw pockets such as Ghaziabad, New Delhi, Varanasi, Dehradun, Allahabad, Lucknow and North-Eastern states.

Currently, there are over 2 Million e-rickshaws plying on Indian roads. The e-rickshaw market has seen a triple-digit growth in the last three and a half years from 40,000 units in 2012 to about 2 million units presently. According to a study by NITI Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute, a switch to electric modes of transport will lead to 64% savings in energy.

The e-rickshaws have positioned themselves as an affordable and clean mode of mobility with immense potential of bridging the gap between first and last mile connectivity.  Electric Vehicles are becoming a preferred mode of transport due to an increasing fossil fuel costs, improved EV technology, usage of renewable energy and growth in shared mobility. Such advancements, when combined with newer business models such as tubular batteries for E-Rickshaws, will enable substantial benefits to the end consumer and a greener planet.