The Hindu : National : Electric vehicles for railway, defence forces

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Wednesday, Oct 10, 2007
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Electric vehicles for railway, defence forces

N. Anand

CHENNAI: It is a non-polluting electric car not meant for use on roads. But, the Electric Vehicle (EV) has been sought by the Southern Railway and the Defence forces. Two EVs will also form part of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s convoy.

Talking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Carrieall Car Managing Director P. Gopi said, “We will be handing over the first EV to the Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi, on a pilot basis to man the movement of vehicles and troops. Later it will be deployed in border areas. The unmanned vehicle will be driven by wire and the technology will be provided by the Defence sector. It will spot a camera that will be directly linked to satellite for monitoring purposes. We have received in-principle approval from the Defence sector and the project will be through in two months.”

The Southern Railway will use it for commercial purpose such as providing hot coffee, snacks and juice to travellers of different compartments.

According to Mr. Gopi, Carrieall has sold around 50 EVs in the last six months and hopes to sell around 1,000 such vehicles during this financial year and end the year with a revenue of Rs. 30 crore. Carrieall now produces two EVs per shift and it plans to double it by employing more people at its Sriperumbudur unit. The promoters have invested Rs. 75 lakh and have taken a working capital loan of Rs 1.2 crore from Indian Bank.

“We were the early entrants in this field. The first EV sold to Taj’s Fisherman Cove some eight years ago is still working. Recently, we refurbished it and gave it back to them. All the critical parts were intact. We got a repeat order from Fisherman’s Cove and an order for 75 EVs from the Taj group. Most of the non-critical components are manufactured by our vendors and critical parts are being imported. The vehicle can be assembled in four hours,” he said.

MGM, Polaris and Biocon have been using the EVs on their campuses. Carrieall has bagged orders from Hilton resorts, Oxford Golf Course, Eagleton Golf Course, Sahara, Sahara Amby Valley, Symbiosis Education Institute, IT parks and factories.

“The Chief Minister’s office has evinced interest in two-seaters as well as four-seaters. We are talking to the Tourism Department for cars that can be used along the shores and to the Chennai Corporation for selling cars for cleaning the Marina Beach,” he said.

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