Ola Adds E-Rickshaws On Its App; Starts Pilot In Delhi

You know the time for green initiatives has truly come when the country’s prime minister lends his support to one.

In a major win for the environment, and Ola cabs, electricity powered e-rikshaws will now be available to be booked on Ola’s app in the Delhi-NCR region.

“A total of 5,100 Ola e-rickshaws will be launched in partnership with Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) at the event and will be deployed across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. This will be further scaled up in the coming months to more small towns and Tier III cities,” Ola Chief Operating Officer Pranay Jivrajka said in a press statement.

The initiative was launched in partnership micro-payments organization BMC and was flagged off by prime minister Narendra Modi himself at a Startup India event in New Delhi today. The prime minister is gung ho about this initiative and believes that it will help transform many lives including the ones of its drivers as well prove to be a saviour for new Delhi’s worrying pollution levels.

Delhi had been recently ranked as the most polluted city in the world. The government had sat up and taken notice, and amongst other initiatives, launched the odd-even vehicle rule which had met with moderate success. E-rikshaws have been running in the region for a while, but being available to book on Ola, might just give them the much needed fillip to ply more. The e-rikshaws can run up to 90 kilometers on a single charge.

Ola will charge the E-rikshaw drivers a commission of 10% on the bookings, while there will no convenience fees charged to the users. The base fare for the e-Rickshaw will be Rs. 25 for the first 2 kms and the per km charge would be Rs. 8km.

Ola is currently the market leader in cab bookings in India and also has under its fold bike taxis, shuttles, and shared rides. With the inclusion of e-rickshaws and the prime minister’s blessings with the project, the company seems to have all bases covered in the commutech space.