The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Patna has floated an expression of interest (EoI) for providing electric cycles on use and pay basis for the staff and students at the university campus.

The selected firm would be expected to establish a kiosk on the campus of IIT Patna, which will facilitate e-cycles in sufficient numbers (at least 50 placed at important sites of the institute). The kiosk will also be responsible for arranging e-cycles as per the requirement from time to time.

IIT Patna will allocate a place for operating and charging stations for these e-cycles. An appropriate amount against the rent and consumption of electricity will be charged from the company providing the e-cycles on campus.

The firm that will be awarded the project will enter into an agreement with IIT Patna for two years. This will be further extendable for another year based on the company’s performance.

The last date of the submission of bids for this tender is October 29, 2019.

Recently, Mercom published a report that discussed India’s ongoing two and three-wheeler electric mobility revolution. The electric vehicle market in India is buoyant amid increasing policy support from the government. Further, owing to the high level of air pollution in most of the Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, and Bangalore, the government is focusing on developing the two and three-wheeler market segment which can be adopted on a larger scale in tier 2 and 3 cities and cut down the rising levels of pollution.

IITs have been among the few educational institutes in the country, leading the change towards sustainability. Before this announcement, various other IIT branches have moved towards sustainable practices like the installation of solar systems to cut down their carbon emissions.

For instance, recently, the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, floated a 15 kW tender for a solar hybrid system with back-up provision. The system is to be installed at Bilaput, in the sub-district of Koraput in Odisha.

Then in August 2019, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, floated an expression of interest for three smart grid field pilots combining renewable sources (solar and biomass) and storage (Lithium-ion and flow batteries). This is part of a project called U.S.-India Collaborative for Smart Distribution System with Storage.