Electric motorcycle trial gets underway

Electric motorcycle trial gets underway

Taxi drivers conduct test of Egat's EVs

Motorcycle taxi drivers try out electric motorcycles launched by Egat, which has joined the country's carbon neutrality campaign.
Motorcycle taxi drivers try out electric motorcycles launched by Egat, which has joined the country's carbon neutrality campaign.

The state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) has begun piloting its electric motorcycles among motorcycle taxi drivers in a fresh move to help the government reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the country.

Officials on Monday handed over 51 motorcycles, each with a replaceable 3-kilowatt battery, to motorcycle taxi drivers at nine motorcycle taxi ranks located near Egat's headquarters in Nonthaburi.

Egat has spent 21 million baht on rolling out the electric motorcycle project. Each motorcycle costs 84,000 baht, with a battery worth 40,000 baht.

The electric motorcycle trial will be conducted for one year in cooperation with King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, said Egat governor Boonyanit Wongrukmit.

Information on energy consumption, environmental and socio-economic impacts as well as reactions from the motorcycle taxi drivers and their passengers will be collected before the project is upgraded to a commercial scale.

Egat plans to launch 600 more electric vehicles throughout Bangkok early next year to serve people traveling between station on the BTS sky train system and nearby areas.

The battery-powered motorcycle being tested has been designed to run for a distance of 100 kilometre per battery charge at a maximum speed of 80km per hour. It can carry a weight of up to 150 kilogrammes.

To facilitate the motorcycle taxi drivers, three battery swapping stations have been set up so they do not need to wait to charge their vehicle. They can simply replace their used battery with a fully charged one and set off again.

The motorcycle taxi drivers will be also linked via a mobile phone application, according to Egat.

Drivers can check battery levels on the app and use it to locate passengers who hail them via the app.

The app is scheduled to be launched in January next year.

The test project is part of Egat's carbon neutrality campaign, which is in line with the government's efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, said Mr Boonyanit.

In November, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha pledged during the UN conference on climate change in Glasgow, Scotland that Thailand would aim to achieve carbon neutrality, a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and absorption, by 2050 and a net-zero balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption by 2065.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (1)