E-Autos to Debut in Guntur

Making a concerted shift towards a more environmentally-conscious form of transportation in the state, Guntur will be the first place in Andhra Pradesh to encourage E-autos, short for electric autorickshaws. Manufactured by Bharath Automobile Works, the e-autos were examined by Kona Sasidhar, District Collector, and Shrikesh B. Lathkar, the GMC Commissioner, and were tested with a trial run before both decided that they would push for more people to opt to own and operate these vehicles than the traditional petrol and diesel autorickshaws, whose sheer number in the city have been blamed for being a major cause of the pollution experienced. Efforts to encourage the adoption of this kind of vehicle include relaxing registration norms and possible subsidies for opting for this kind of vehicle.

 

Kona Sasidhar made a general statement about the existing fleet of privately owned and operated autorickshaws, saying, “About 30,000 autos are moving on the city roads making them congested. The existing autos are the main culprits of high volumes of air pollution in the city.” Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the e-autos is their price tag of 1.5-lakh rupees, compared to the conventional, fossil-fuel versions which are priced at 3.5-lakh rupees and above. Furthermore, being an electric engine, there are far fewer moving parts than in a combustion engine, further reducing the longer-term costs of maintenance.

 

The District Collector also said that there was currently a ban on registration of new petrol and diesel autorickshaws, adding that these were slowly being phased out to to introduce the e-autos as a viable and environmentally-friendly alternative.