AP govt deploys e-autos for waste disposal, becomes first state in India to do so

After adopting electric bikes in Vishakhapatnam, the government of Andhra Pradesh has deployed pollution-free electric auto-rickshaws for waste disposal. These rickshaws come with an advanced hydraulic disposal system and have been manufactured and supplied by Hyderabad-based T-Hub startup Gayam Motor Works.

The state’s Chief Minister, Nara Chandra Babu Naidu inaugurated the deployment these electric auto-rickshaws at AP Secretariat on Tuesday. AP will be the first state in India to adopt electric waste disposal vehicles, which will be deployed in the city of Vijayawada.

“The city’s waste management system can now be monitored from a single location by officials at Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC). This initiative transforms public space waste management with mobile and cloud-connected system. Our fleet of electric vehicles communicates real-time status to software systems. Communities benefit from optimized & streamlined operations, beautified public spaces and reduced carbon footprint.” said J Nivas, commissioner, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation.

With integration of new generation technology, municipal supervisors can now track several aspects such as waste pick up points, vehicle routes and disposal alerts from a single dashboard. This will improve per vehicle productivity, reduce non-compliance, and eliminate manual tracking for monitoring and escalation.

Gayam Motor Works is a Hyderabad-based smart vehicles startup that makes e-autos and e-bikes.

It has smart electric autos that run for around 100 kilometres per charge and have a running cost of as low as 50 paise per kilometer. Its cargo version - Taskman has a load capacity of over 450 kilos.

Last month, Naidu launched a fleet of 100 Limitless Electric Bikes in Vishakhapatnam to be used by officials of the GVMC. These e-bikes too were supplied to the state by a GMW. 

GMW says that each diesel auto replaced will reduce about 35 tons of carbon emissions over a period of five years. As much as 200,000 tons of carbon emissions can be reduced by replacing 5000+ municipal disposal vehicles across the state with electric vehicles.

"From acute shortage of power experienced post-bifurcation, both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have turned power-surplus within two years of their inception, thanks to the proactive policies of the State governments. But with the large scale capacity addition planned and anticipated drop in the future demand, the surplus could become as significant as in the case of Gujarat or Maharashtra. Electric Vehicles are natural evolution of our energy infrastructure and can be the key to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” says Sri Harsha Bavirisetty, COO at Gayam Motor Works.

With the adoption of these electric autos, running cost will be reduced from Rs 3.50/km to Rs 0.50/km.

GMW has also received an order from Big Basket for its deliveries in Gurugram. It has also run trialswith Ekart and Gati.

Additionally, it has also provided its e-bikes to Uber’s food delivery arm UberEATS in San Francisco, Singapore and Hong Kong.

This article has been produced with inputs from T-Hub as a part of a partner program.