Here is an opportunity ( or a threat ? ),
for India's " Organized / Large Scale Bi-cycle Manufacturers "
May be , between them , HERO / BSA / TI /
ATLAS etc large scale manufacturers , produce close to 50 % of India's production
of 15 million bicycles per year ( second largest in the World ) , rest being
manufactured by hundreds of small scale manufacturers , spread all over the
country . Between them , they also export some 3 million bicycles every year !
Bicycles costing Rs 10,000 / - to Rs 20,000 / - each (
going down to Rs 5,000 for locally made cheap versions )
Cambridge ( USA ) based
GeoOrbital has come out with a unique bicycle wheel for
replacing the Front Wheel of any standard ( 26 " / 28 " ) existing
bicycle , to convert it into an " Electric
Bicycle " in ONE minute and without
any tools !
Changing back to original Front Wheel of
your vintage bicycle , will also take no more than ONE minute
GeoOrbital Front Wheel carries a 500 Watt DC motor / a removable
Lithium-Io battery / Wheel lock and a
Motor Controller
( a simple thumb activated throttle, which is easily clipped onto your
handlebar )
Battery needs
3 / 4 hours to recharge ( depending upon capacity ) but gets Regenerative Charge when
you pedal !
It will give a
range of 20 miles (50 miles if
you pedal for exercise ) with
a speed of 20 MPH (
without pedaling )
Launched in May 2016 , bulk deliveries will start in Feb 2017 . Overseas orders will
be accepted online @ $ 800
If this GeoOrbital front wheel was to be manufactured in India (
in a Joint Venture with GeoOrbital ?
) , then I believe , the selling price could be brought down to Rs 10,000 / - (
opportunity for Indian Bicycle Manufacturers ? )
Can our Policy Makers dream of an URBAN TRANSPORT REVOLUTION ( an Orchestra super-conducted by
Shri Nitin Gadkari ?
) as follows :
# ROLE OF
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
Encourage
" Bike Share Taxi " ventures using Electric Bicycles by offering them all sorts of
incentives , such as :
* 50 % subsidy on
refitting of newly purchased plain bicycles with GeoOrbital Front Wheels
* No Corporate or
Personal Income Tax for 10 years
Of course ,
existence of similar " Bike Share Taxi
" ventures in many cities around the World , have already
proved this as a viable model for reducing
traffic congestions / vehicle pollution
# ROLE OF
CITY MUNICIPALITIES
* Municipalities to make available free "
Parking " spaces , all over their cities for such ventures .
* Give 10 % rebate
in Property Tax to Co-op Housing Societies which provide 400 sq ft space to
" Bike Share
Taxi " ventures , within their compounds , FREE OF RENTAL
* " Bike Share Taxi " scheme may be modeled
around similar successful scheme BIXI of Montreal Municipality
# ROLE OF
START UP VENTURES
* These Ventures will construct /
install their " Docking Stations " at these parking spaces ( GPS
connected /
Wi-Fi enabled )
Each Docking Station will automatically recharge
built-in Battery, while cycle is parked
( stationary )
* All bicycles
owned by these ventures to be GPS enabled for easy tracking by the Venture
Owners
* A Digi-Met (
digital meter ) to be fixed on all such bicycles where payment can be made by UPI
( Universal
Payment Interface ) , about to be launched ,
across entire country ( a vastly user-friendly , Mobile Wallet )
* Rates ( per km
or per hour ) to be fixed by a RTO designed fare calculating software , running
on Digi-Met
# ROLE OF
MANOJ BHARGAVA ( www.BillionsinChange.com
)
* Come up with a
higher capacity electricity generating bicycle device , which can charge
FlashBattery charger
of Start Up , StoresDot
May be he can pre-install that StoresDot's
FlashBattery charger into the electricity generating device itself !
# ROLE OF StoresDot
* Modify their FlashBattery
Charger ( which is capable of charging a Electric Car Battery in 5 MINUTES ) , to be
able to charge GeoOrbital's
replaceable battery pack , within ONE MINUTE
!
# ROLE OF
COOPERATIVE HOUSING SOCIETIES
* As an alternative to providing 400 sq ft open
space to " Bike Share Taxi " ventures
, build a GYM within the
Society
compound ( no need for FSI / no permission from local Municipality / just file
plans-drawings ) , which
will house :
# Manoj Bhargava's higher capacity electricity generating bicycles
(at least 5) and encourage Members
to exercise on these ( 24 hours open ) , to
generate / store electric power for charging StoreDot's
FlashBattery
. Credit exercising members with " 5 credit points " for charging
their own private GeoOrbital
installed bicycles for each hour of exercise
# Install StoreDot's FlashBattery Chargers , duly
connected to those devices for getting charged and make
these available to
Society Members who have earned credit points ( Rich members may depute their
domestic servants to
exercise on their behalf ! )
This simple innovation / intervention , has the
potential to :
# Dramatically reduce traffic congestion in big cities
# Reduce demand for new air-polluting cars using fossil
fuel
# Even reduce dependence on Public Transport ( Bus / Metro
/ Local trains / Taxis )
# Reduce need for
car parking spaces on streets
# Improve health of citizens who switch over from car
driving to GeoOrbital bicycle pedaling !
# Become a
Flag-Bearer to National Electric Mobility
Mission Plan ( NEMMP )
which aims to put 6
million Electric Vehicles on our roads by 2020
; totally possible if those vehicles are " Electric Bicycles " , not
Cars !
I hope Shri Nitin Gadkariji and Shri Piyush Goyalji ,
will acknowledge this suggestion , even if they do not agree !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19 Aug 2016
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
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