Sun Mobility and SmartE associate
Sun Mobility and SmartE have associated to offer battery swapping technology in erickshaws.
Specialising in the supply of erickshaws since 2014, SmartE has associated with Sun Mobility to offer battery swapping technology in erickshaws. Operating in Delhi, Gurugram, and Faridabad since October 2015, the company has a fleet of 1,000 electric rickshaws that caters to 80 km of clean last mile connectivity in the NCR region. Sourced from Kinetic, the GPS equipped erickshaws, providing zero emission last mile connectivity in the region surrounding the various metro stations in the NCR region, are supported by five charging depots. Operating in an area of 15000 sq. ft., according to Goldie Srivastava, Co-founder and CEO, SmartE, the erickshaws typically suffer from issues like range anxiety and an operating pattern that has them spending more time at the charging station, and in wait for passengers than ply on the road. This not only affects their ability to clock maximum uptime, it also affects the operator’s ability to achieve superior productivity. In their quest to offer cleaner last mile connectivity, and in the face of competition, the erickshaws offered by SmartE, could profit from the battery swapping technology that Sun Mobility has to offer.
Other than addressing range anxiety, the ability to swap batteries and save time that was otherwise spent at the charging station would enable the erickshaws to clock higher uptime. Said Chetan
ericskhaw operator income to support the technology and tackle future challenges that may arrive. Claiming to have witnessed a 50 per cent increase in the income of the driver per month, according to Srivastava, the partnership between SmartE and Sun Mobility is said to have already done some 10,000 km, in field trials conducted since October 2018. The move to
Lithium-ion batteries and battery swapping technology solution is also expected to help SmartE up the safety of the erickshaws it supplies. While all the erickshaws that the company has supplied have been equipped with GPS, which includes tracking and geofencing, SmartE, mentioned Srivastava, is also investing in driver training as part of a strategy to improve safety and security. Passenger security a top priority, according to Srivastava, the company is investing in driver training involving routes, vehicle parameters, behaviour towards passengers and their security. If geofencing alerts the driver and operator of having travelled out of the designated area, and tracking aids passenger security. Working towards streamlining the battery swapping technology through secure digital payment gateways, according to Maini, SmartE is looking at a solid edge over the competition through its association with Sun Mobility. In fact, the secure digital payment gateways are already in use. They are also found to be quite successful, according to Maini. He averred, “The driver can drive his SmartE erickshaw into a Sun Mobility battery swapping station and pay for the amount of battery that has been used. If the driver has used only 50 per cent of the entire battery energy, he does not need to pay 100 per cent of use every time. The calculation is done on a pro rata basis with a secure RFID tag system, which enables complete security of the battery as well.
With the ‘Smart’ Lithiumion battery said to have a life of 4,000 cycles on an average, and which would mean five years, SmartE, in association with Sun Mobility, is looking at operator profitability for higher productivity and earnings against those that use lead-acid batteries, which are claimed to last approximately nine months with 400 cycles. Said Maini, “The inter-operatable batteries by Sun Mobility have seen the highest asset utilisation.” Drawing attention to the new smart battery having different separators and cathodes for a longer life cycle over a standard Lithium-ion battery, which is known to have a lifecycle of up to two years with 1000 cycles, Maini explained that battery swapping makes a strong business case. He explained, “The ecosystem takes into account reusability of batteries in respect to grid storage. Once they reach 80 per cent of their efficiency level over a period of five years, they can be easily replaced by new batteries into the swapping ecosystem.” The batteries used by Sun Mobility have three onboard microcomputers, each for the GPS tracking, power and battery management, Maini stressed upon. CV