E-vehicle taxi service launched in Telangana

With an aim to provide last mile connectivity in a more efficient and pollution-free manner, VG Arcedo Energy has launched electric vehicle-powered taxi services under its brand e-yAna. The company will own and operate electric autos and electric bikes and has already deployed 100 of each in Karimnagar and Warangal.

The company owned and operated fleet will have swappable battery option and e-yAna will place in strategic locations in both the cities. These battery centres will be solar powered and the driver will just have to replace his drained out battery with a fully charged battery available at the station. In addition to this, the company is also looking launching patented conversion kits with which existing conventional auto owners can easily convert to e-autos.

“We started our parent company Arcedo in 2016 through which we provide solar power solutions to corporates and other entities. About a year ago, we started working on the concept of electric vehicles and that’s how e-yAna came into being. We have partnered with Kinetic Green for manufacturing e-autos, with Okinawa for e-bikes and Exicom for our battery solutions. We are an integrator of e-vehicles and batteries and are operating our own fleet with drivers on our payroll,” said G Vijaya Kumar, director,



e-yAna.

The EV integrator has about 150 drivers driving their e-autos and e-bikes and customers from both the cities can book their rides from the e-yAna app. In terms of battery stations, it has about three in Warangal and two in Karimnagar. It is a completely bootstrapped company with an investment of about Rs 3 crore and has partnered with NBFCs for funding for purchase of fleet.

On the expansion plans, Kumar said that the company plans to have 1,000 vehicles in 10 cities in Telangana by March 2020 and once the regulation on L5 EV is formulated in Hyderabad, it plans to expand in the capital city as well. L5 category is three-wheeled motor vehicle with maximum speed exceeding 25 kmph.

Speaking at the launch of the fleet, Telangana IT and industries department, principal secretary, Jayesh Ranjan said, “Telangana is the first State to launch a dedicated EV policy and it has the largest fleet of EVs in India for public transportation. We have about 60 charging stations in the State and we have strong procurement policy for local manufacturers. For last mile connectivity from metro stations, the government is in discussion to replace old autos with e-autos and the HMRL has already partnered with six companies to deploy e-bikes at the metro stations.”