October 24, 2019: Exide Industries, one of India’s largest lead battery makers, has taken advantage of the country’s burgeoning e-rickshaw industry by launching its first model, the Exide Neo, the company said on October 16.
It is the first vehicle the battery maker has produced, and will be fitted with batteries that the company has tailor-made for e-rickshaws, the Exide E-Ride Plus, or the Exide E-Ride Tubular Plus.
The vehicle is going to be launched in select markets in India, and be made available through the company’s network of dealers, the company said.
“The e-rickshaw category has seen phenomenal growth in India in the last few years and we have been an integral part of it since inception, through our offerings of robust lead acid batteries,” said CEO and managing director Gautam Chatterjee.
“We see a tremendous opportunity to now offer a complete, technologically advanced package to the e-rickshaw operator that will be reliable with the least downtime.”
“The marketing and service network for the new product has been already put in place. Exide Neo will be gradually introduced across the country in a phased manner,” a statement said.
As the country lurches towards its goal of making all new vehicles electric by 2030, demand for lead batteries remains high in the e-rickshaw market, where the traditional diesel or petrol-powered three-wheelers are losing ground to e-rickshaws, according to the Economic Times of India.
“About 60 million Indians hop on an e-rickshaw every day, analysts estimate,” says the newspaper. “In a country with limited shared transit options and a vast population of working poor people, the vehicles provide a vital service as well as a decent living for drivers, who are mostly illiterate.”
In the country’s northern cities, where e-rickshaws are concentrated, the vehicles are supplanting auto-rickshaws, the better-known three-wheelers that serve as neighbourhood taxis, seat up to three people and run on diesel, gasoline or natural gas.
“This is a good initiative in many ways,” says L Pugazhenthy, head of the India Lead Zinc Development Association, “Exide Industries has come up with a technologically advanced, e-rickshaw which is ideal for another cross section of the population such as the upper middle class, office goers, employed youths, students and the like who look for clean, comfortable, sophisticated and good looking vehicles for mobility.
“Also, because of the serious air quality related issues in some of our cities as well as the increasing emphasis on climate change, the good old, noise-making auto rickshaws in India are slowly giving way to the new, noise-free e-rickshaws.”
Although auto-rickshaws are safer and faster, a ride in one costs more than a ride in an e-rickshaw, which is less expensive because of the vehicles’ cheaper energy supply and ability to cram in four or more paying passengers.
