Electric cab plan fuse breaks

According to a report by the BC Khatua Committee, electric cars are not feasible Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has been actively pushing for public transport vehicles to go electric. But for electric cars to operate as taxis have been touted as unviable by the four-member BC Khatua Committee. This committee, set up by the state government, was asked to determine the feasibility of fares for mobile aggregators, autorickshaws, black and yellow cab, and fleet cabs.

The Ministry of Road and Transport has been emphasising the need for the vehicle manufacturers and automobile industry at large to scale up the production of electric cars and it's batteries. Globally, the sale of electric cars is merely one per cent.

According to the report submitted by the committee, the base fare of an electric car is Rs 12 lakh which will be 2.5 times costlier than an average black and yellow taxi. According to the committee members, spoke to vehicle manufacturers have stated in their report that the cost of a lithium battery is over 60 per cent of the total cost of the vehicle.

"This battery needs to be replaced every one-and-a-half years as black and yellow taxis run up to 56,000 km annually," said the report. The committee has also observed that the lithium-ion batteries are manufactured in China, which is also moving towards usage of electric cars.

Sources said that despite charging high fares from passengers — which is not feasible — it will not be possible to recover the cost.

Under the current situation, the cost of these lithium batteries is unlikely to come down. Moreover, it takes 7-8 hours for the batteries to charge fully, which is almost loss of one shift for a cab owner who normally operates two shifts. A regular black and yellow taxi runs 94 km in a single shift of which they manage to make earnings from 77 km while rest of the fuel is wasted when there is no ride.

A single charge of batteries will take the vehicle up to 140 km during vehicle tests while on road it can run up to 110 km. "It could be a nightmare for a driver if the charge of the taxi drains at the end of the shift with a passenger inside. At present the concept of electric cars to operate as taxis will only erode," stated the report.

The report also mentions that without adequate battery-charging stations and points, the induction of electric car as taxis is unlikely to happen in the near future. Given these circumstances, the Khatua Committee doesn't see the possibility of an individual taxi driver or owner opting for electric cars in the near future.

The committee has recommended the government to take financial and operational data from one of the app-based aggregators in Nagpur who is running a pilot with an electric taxi; ideally one-and-a-half to two years from now.