Hyderabad: Retrofitting of old petrol or diesel vehicles into electric ones is one of the technologies showcased at the Hyderabad EV EXPO. Hawk EV is in talks with Road Transport Corporations of Telangana and AP to retrofit old buses, with 300 buses already retrofitted.
As per the new vehicle scrappage policy 2021 announced by the Centre, private cars that are older than 20 years and commercial vehicles older than 15 years will be deregistered. The vehicles that pass the test can be re-registered. But those vehicles failing the test need to be scrapped. By EV retrofitting these vehicles, their life span can be expanded further.
Sirish Chandra and Dr. Anupam Deb, Directors, HAWK EV, said since 2021, the firm has retrofitted over 350 vehicles. Most of these vehicles are Defence vehicles and vehicles for the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department Vehicles. “We are also in talks with Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation to retrofit their buses,” they said.
Rajiv Arora, Organizer of EV EXPO 2023, said India’s domestic electric vehicle market would grow at a compound annual growth rate of 49 percent between 2022 and 2030 and will see one crore units in annual sales by 2030. This is because now all governments are focusing on the EVs sector, he said
He said Telangana has been very proactive in the EV sector. “I understand according to TSREDO (Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation Ltd), they are working on the ecosystem for the EV sector to flourish. They are even setting up 20 charging stations each in all districts of the state,” he said.
When asked about fears people have about the safety of the batteries of EVs, Arora said, the new standards introduced by the ministry under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules and a separate set of rules on human safety by heavy industries have to be implemented by April 1. These new set of rules will ensure more safety. In the event of a fire, there will be a buzzer so there is no personal harm, he added.
