How India’s First Electric Cab Service is Making Bangalore Less Polluted

[JANASENA]

Thirty lakh kilometres of emission free transport – that’s what Lithium’s electric cabs have gifted Bangalore within just nine months of hitting the roads.  

Lithium calls itself the transportation of the future, delivered today. In the future that Lithium envisages we will ride completely on renewable and non-polluting vehicles. As a run-up to this future, Lithium has made a fantastic start with its all-electric cab fleet in Bangalore.

Lithium Technologies, founded by Sanjay Krishnan, started off with just 10 electric cabs. Today, within just nine months, Lithium has over 200 vehicles that criss-cross the city of Bangalore. Each of these 200 vehicles is traversing 200 to 300 kilometres every day. This means, close to 60,000 kilometres of transport that is hydrocarbon emission free, non-renewable fuel free and pollution free, every single day!

Lithium saves nearly 11 tonnes of carbon emissions every day 

When Sanjay hit upon this idea, he knew he had an uphill task at hand – to launch something that had never been attempted before, to start at a time when the infrastructure for electric cars was virtually non-existent, and to face all the challenges of being the first mover. But Sanjay was totally convinced about the need for Lithium and its huge potential to change our environment.

“I drew my inspiration from Star Trek, I wanted to go places where no man has gone. I believe that if you do what is right, people will start believing in you,” says Sanjay.  

Sanjay Krishnan, Founder, Lithium Cabs

Sanjay decided to start building the foundation for Lithium by liaising with corporate offices in Bangalore. Corporate transportation forms a huge chunk of commuter requirements in the city. One after the other, many companies started signing up with Lithium for providing transport for their employees. As of today, Lithium is serving only corporate clients. Sanjay says, “As the operations scale, Lithium will soon be available for the public and we are looking at covering more cities.”

One of the biggest challenges that electric cars face is the infrastructure for charging the batteries. Lithium has found its way around with high-speed charging stations – 200 of them are already set up across Bangalore. The companies that signed up with Lithium also provide  charging facilities within their campuses. The fact that it takes only one hour for a full charge and that there is literally no fuel cost involved, makes Lithium all the more effective.

Apart from being an eco-friendly option, Lithium also makes sure it provides hassle free and efficient services. Its fleet management is technology driven, the cars have inbuilt GPS that cannot be tampered with by the drivers, and the cab drivers are rigorously trained to provide great service.

Sanjay says Lithium gets a 4.7 star rating from its clients and has a fleet of happy drivers who are enjoying driving the electric cars.

For more information, log on to http://www.project-lithium.com/