Kolkata Police to acquire 226 electric vehicles to cut surging fuel cost – Times of India

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Police will soon induct into its fleet 226 electric vehicles to counter rising diesel prices and escalating maintenance costs. The e-vehicles, to be taken on lease for eight years, will help phase out 200-odd diesel vehicles that are around 15 years old. The proposal has received clearance from Nabanna.
The city police force has around 4,000 vehicles but regularly hires transport for special law and order duties. The new vehicles are likely to be divided among the traffic, wireless and other units, with the traffic police getting at least 78 vehicles
Lalbazar sources said the office of the deputy secretary, home and hill affairs department, had on September 13 issued a letter granting Rs 8.8 crore for the purpose. Following the budget allocation, a government agency was roped in to complete the tendering and procuring process.
An additional CP has been assigned the duty of coordinating with various agencies for the quick arrival of these vehicles. At least half-a-dozen quick charging points will come up across nine police divisions. Each e-vehicle takes close to eight hours to get fully charged. The performance of the first batch of e-vehicles will determine its extensive use in the coming days, the sources said.
“At a time when diesel price has shot past Rs 100 a litre, we expect to save Rs 40 crore in the next eight years if the diesel rate does not slide rapidly,” said an officer. “The average cost of electricity consumed by an electric vehicle is estimated to be 90 paisa to Re 1 per kilometre. On the other hand, the average fuel cost for a diesel or petrol vehicle is around Rs 8.5 per kilometre,” he added. On a monthly basis, the officer claimed, the average maintenance cost of the existing vehicles ranges between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000 every month. “By this logic, the expenditure per month should be a fraction of what we spend now,” he said.
According to senior officers, there are two primary concerns — how frequently the vehicles need to be charged given their rough use and whether the charging centres will be adequate to charge all the cars. “The rule will remain the same as in our diesel cars — keep the charge above 50%,” said an officer.
Earlier, Kolkata Police had procured some battery-operated vehicles to patrol around Rabindra Sarobar but this is the first time electric vehicles will be deployed for formal policing.