Chennai : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday launched India’s first retrofit electric autorickshaws in the city.
The state government had recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dubai-based KMC Group and MAuto Electric Mobility at an event hosted by the Business Leaders Forum (BLF), an initiative of United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Economy and the Indian embassy in the UAE during the three-nation tour of Mr.Palaniswami to the United States, United Kingdom and Dubai in order to bring foreign direct investment to the state.
Accordingly, the KMC Group and MAuto Electric Mobility had agreed for an eco-friendly vehicle project to convert petrol autorickshaws into electric autorickshaws with an investment of Rs 100 crore and providing job opportunities to 5,000 people.
The state government had given necessary clearances for the unit to start the venture. As part of the MOU, 100 electric autorickshaws will be rolled out in the first phase.
Mr.Palaniswami flagged off the first fleet of four electric autorickshaws also called as “M-Auto” for public usage at a function held at secretariat.
Founder and Chairman of MAuto Electric Mobility, A.Mansoor Ali Khan said the driving range per full charge of three hours will be 100 kilometre. The aim is to introduce 4,000 electric autorickshaws in Chennai city, 100 by a month to reduce air pollution.
The autos are fitted with CCTV, panic button, GPS and Tab facilities. The autos could be registered by the public through the mobile app MAuto Pride.
While the petrol-used autorickshaws would incur an expenditure of Rs 350 to Rs 400 for every 100 km, it is Rs 40 for these electric auto rickshaws. These autos could run at a top speed of 60 kms per hour.
The retrofitting of autorickshaws will cost between Rs 1.2 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh and the company is planning to set up charging stations in each of the ten zones of the city, Mr Khan said.
