Sunday 26 April 2015

Lithium launches all-electric car fleet service in Bangalore



Autocarindia.com: Lithium Urban Technologies has launched an all-electric car fleet service in Bangalore. The company will use Mahindra e2os to provide fleet services to organisations with the need for employee and inter-campus transportation with more vehicles to join the fleet in the future. The company’s first customers in Bangalore are TESCO, VMware and Total Environment.

Lithium offers a cloud-based transportation management system and a multi-level security system including a live-feed camera on all its cars to monitor all vehicles at all times inside the operation area. The cars are also fitted with WiFi available for the passengers to use. All cars will also come with tamper-proof data tablets with a travel card swiping system to prevent unauthorised passengers from using the service. The tablet will also act as the journey log for distance and payment information.

Clients will have access to the Lithium app on their mobile phones for detailed pre-trip reminders, in-trip information, easy communication with the driver without sharing phone numbers and a 24-hour connection to the central control room along with the availability of a panic button installed inside the vehicle for added security.

Inside the vehicle, passengers will get access to productivity apps which will provide journey updates, inter-city bus information, flight schedules and check-in services, train schedules and access to the latest news, music and videos.

Lithium has also set up over a hundred slow charging stations across the city with the information stored on the vehicle’s GPS for easy locating. The company will also set up fast charge stations at client locations.

The service will only be available to the corporate sector as of now with Lithium offering unlimited kilometre deals to interested companies.

Lithium claims that its car fleet service will save corporate companies between Rs 2-3 crore on an annual basis in transportation costs as its all-electric vehicle service incurs lower running costs as compared to conventional vehicles.

Lithium aims to have 400 cars operating in the first year itself. The company has also planned to expand to other cities along with having 2,000 all-electric cars operating nationwide in the next two years.