Hyderabad: City auto owners face hiccups in shift to EVs

Hyderabad: In order to promote environmentally-friendly transportation for city residents and in an attempt to phase out old auto-rickshaws to reduce pollution, the State government is contemplating to encourage the owners to shift to EV (electric vehicle) mobility. Drivers say there are many challenges for them to retrofit, as the government provides a subsidy of minimum Rs 15,000; remaining would have to be borne by themselves.

Even as the Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TSREDCO) asked the Transport department to identify and change the old autos into EVs, it was found that there is no major change with over five lakh autos, including 3.5 lakh in the City.

In this retrofitting process, diesel/petrol engines are to be replaced with electric ones; some changes would be made to turn them into EVs. It would cost around Rs 1 lakh to retrofit an old auto-rickshaw into an EV.

The transport unions say there would be many challenges in the conversion to EVs. The Telangana Auto and Motor Welfare Union general secretary M Dayanand said it would be a difficult task for auto drivers because the charges alone will be very high. “When autos were changed from petrol to CNG/LPG the drivers had to shell out Rs 60,000 each; if the government forces them it would cost around Rs 1 lakh. The subsidy of Rs 15,000 is not at all enough,” he pointed out.

The union leader said the conversion itself is a cumbersome process;it requires permissions. Hence the government needs to provide the entire infrastructure before implementing the new rule.

According to an estimate, there are over 3.5 lakh autos in Greater Hyderabad and more than five lakh autos across the State. The government should hold workshops with auto companies and workers to make them aware of the new changes besides providing adequate charging points, said Dayanand.

The TSREDCO has urged the Transport department to encourage autos, particularly the old ones, so that pollution can be controlled.

This was as part of the Telangana Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy 2020-30 which lays stress on faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and EVs (FAME-II) scheme being implemented since April 2019. Under the scheme, the government provides a subsidy of Rs 15,000 and remaining would have to be borne by the vehicle-owner.

“There is an urgent need to phase out old vehicles to reduce pollution and to shift to EV mobility,” said a TSREDCO officer.

The government has already announced 100 per cent road tax and registration fee exemption for the first 20,000 electric three-wheelers and the first 10,000 electric light goods carriers, including three-wheelers.