Indore Municipal Corporation has made yet another move towards a sustainable future. Marking 75 years of Independence, the Indore civic body, on August 15, unveiled a newly converted electric garbage collection truck. The old and discarded, diesel-run truck was converted into an EV equipped with an 8kW DC motor. Reportedly, the move was taken under Indore's flagship Clean Air initiative.

As we all know, vehicles running on conventional fuel are costly and tend to cause a negative impact on the environment to a great extent. In a bid to reduce air pollution, IMC announced the launch of 20 converted E-garbage trucks. As per IMC officials, the conversion cost of a single vehicle is set at ₹3 lacs, 80% less than the cost of a new EV of similar capacity.

As of now, two such vehicles have begun operations. Equipped with an 8kW DC motor and 12 lithium-ion batteries, these vehicles can run for up to 120 km on a single charge. Considering 50-60 km as the daily average run of a diesel-run garbage collection vehicle, it requires at least eight liters of diesel. Meanwhile, an electric vehicle could be used for two days on a single charge.

The idea is to reduce fuel costs incurred by IMC in garbage collection and to encourage environment-friendly solutions. Over 530 garbage collection vehicles offer door-to-door garbage collection services across 85 wards in Indore. Out of these 40 vehicles run on CNG and remaining on diesel combustion engines.

In 2015, IMC bought 350 diesel-run garbage collection vehicles. Of them, 150 are not in use or, have been discarded. Reportedly, these discarded vehicles will be converted into battery-operated vehicles, ensuring sustainability and efficiency.

At present, one diesel-run vehicle costs over ₹25,000/- every month, meanwhile, an electrically charged vehicle will cost less than ₹6,000/- a month.

Transport is a fundamental requirement of modern life, and traditional combustion engines are quickly becoming outdated. Petrol and diesel vehicles are highly polluting and are being rapidly replaced by fully electric vehicles.

Since EVs have zero tailpipe emissions, they are much better for the environment. The electric vehicle revolution is here, and IMC is in to be a part of it.