Date:26/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/26/stories/2008092660110500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Sale of eco-friendly vehicles likely to rev up

Vidya Venkat

Photo: V.Ganesan.

An electric car owner will not have to worry about the price of petrol and may save more on-road cost as against a petrol-run vehicle. —

CHENNAI: With a view to promoting modes of transport that do not pollute the environment, the government has offered a tax break on electric vehicles in the form of a concession of 50 per cent on its lifetime tax. With this, the rate of tax on electric vehicles is 4 per cent as against 8 per cent for petrol-run vehicles. The move has been welcomed by the niche electric vehicle manufacturing sector.

Aruna V. Iyer, a college student and proud owner of a Reva electric car for the past three years, says battery-run cars are as good as any other. “As long as one is driving inside the city, it is a good car. It is environment friendly and four people can easily travel in it. When fully charged, with AC on, the car runs 60 km and without AC, it gives 75 km,” she said. She added that since the car was fully automatic and did not have a gear, it was easy to drive as well.

Avinash Bhandari, Joint MD and CEO of Gujarat-based Electrotherm (India) Ltd., said the company’s electric bike selling under the brand name ‘YObykes’ was in much demand in Chennai. “Our company’s showroom in Little Mount, Saidapet, is attracting more children and homemakers now. With the tax concessions, we are hoping that the high-speed bikes for regular road-users would also attract more buyers,” he said.

The commercial viability of electric vehicles had not picked all these days because the battery technology had not developed for a very long time. “Now, with advancement in technology, there is good scope for developing electric vehicles,” he said. A high-speed electric bike would consume close to two units of electricity to get fully charged and could run 70 km with it.