Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has decided to hire 20 electric vehicles (EV) at a cost of Rs 21,500 per month per vehicle against the current Rs 34,000 per vehicle per month, and to set up charging points at its headquarters and zonal offices. The vehicles will not only minimise air and sound pollution but also save the corporation crores of rupees.
So far, the GHMC was spending Rs 4.40 per km as fuel consumption charges, while the charge for EV will be just 90 paise per km.
GHMC will hire the vehicles in a week, after an agreement with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (ESSL), who are operating the project in association with vehicle manufacturers Mahindra and Mahindra and Tata Motors. The project comes under the National Mission on Electric Mobility, whereby all existing vehicles will be replaced with EV by 2030.
Srinivasa Chary, an executive engineer said the vehicles will be used by those officials, including the ones in the accounts section, who spend at least eight hours in office daily, so they may charge the vehicle. He added that the money saved per month could be used as wages for drivers.
About the limitations of EV, Chary said since this is an experimental programme, there will be certain setbacks which can be resolved by setting up more charging stations.
However, while Andhra Pradesh has signed a memorandum of understanding to replace 10,000 hired vehicles with EV, Telangana has restricted the initial number to just 20.
