Electric mobility: Adding the e-factor to India’s tourism sector

The slogan doesn’t just affirm our cultural reverence for tourists; it also signifies a commitment to serve and engage them in innovative ways. Micromobility-based urban tourism is one such smart idea that can change the way travellers see and experience our cities.

Micromobility vehicles like e-scooters, bikes, and cycles unlock convenient, affordable and accessible mobility for people who don’t have vehicles or driver’s licences. They are, thus, a perfect solution not just for commuters and delivery workers-who are among these services’ most frequent users-but also for tourists. Around the world, small e-bikes and scooters are redefining eco-tourism in cities burdened by pollution and congestion. These vehicles are also relatively more cost-effective for tourists as well as tour operators who offer mobility services.

Here’s why micromobility must be an essential dimension within any tourist destination.

Micromobility-based tours: small form, big benefits

Eco-tourism does not solely stand for quaint cottages and mud houses at picturesque locations. It also stands for smarter travel options that are convenient, sustainable, and easier on the pocket.

Many tourists today want to avoid crowded spots. They prefer to immerse themselves at leisure and explore offbeat sights and sounds. For these intrepid travellers, the traditional urban mobility options based on rushed and predictable itineraries are not an ideal choice. EVs, particularly low-speed EVs (LSEVs) that are compact, self-driven and self-paced are a better fit for urban exploration. Such vehicles are technology-enabled, unisex by design, and don’t require users to have driver’s licences. Thus, they can be easily used by every kind of tourist. Women, for instance, find these lighter vehicles easy to navigate. Foreign tourists, too, can rent them without needing to haggle with operators or cabbies over the fares.

There is the cost factor too. A petrol scooter costs anywhere from Rs 500-800 per day to rent, besides another Rs 200-300 for fuel. LSEV rental services tend to cost a fraction of this amount. Users also don’t have to worry about refuelling or maintaining rented EVs and can simply pick up and drop them off at designated zones or stations once they’re done with the journey.

Micromobility also solves the most pressing challenge of our time – manmade greenhouse gas emissions. Several popular tourist destinations in India today are plagued by poor air quality due to vehicular emissions, among other causes. This pollution also damages iconic structures, green areas, and heritage sites. In such a scenario, deploying more EVs vastly reduces tourism’s carbon footprint and its contribution to urban noise levels.

Besides tourists and cities, tour operators also stand to gain by introducing LSEVs. Operators can capitalise on these vehicles’ novelty factor to provide a differentiated and eco-friendly experience to tourists. Since these bikes are shareable, operators can rent them out to tourists around the clock, including at non-peak hours, and improve their profit margins.

Finally, mobility is today a vital feature of any city’s physical landscape. In addition to beautiful promenades and green areas, having unique EV-enabled mobility options delights tourists and improves their overall experience. At the same time, EV services also enhance the appeal of lesser-known spots and draw more visitors to those places.

Driving shared e-mobility adoption in tourism

The Indian government has set ambitious targets for EV penetration by 2030, with two and three-wheelers driving this trend. However, creating a conducive ecosystem for shared mobility involves the following steps:

Encouraging the LSEV option for tour operators: The up-front cost of switching to EVs, especially cars and higher-speed bikes, can deter tour operators from adopting cleaner vehicles. To help them, tourism authorities can encourage operators to opt for shared micromobility EVs which, besides being cheaper, allow the latter to recover their up-front investment quicker.

Policy support: Goa, one of India’s tourist hotspots, has mandated that all new tourist vehicles, including bikes on hire, must be EVs from January 2024. In addition, one-third of new vehicles registered in the state from 2025 onwards will be electric. Goa also proposes to develop an electric mobility policy as part of a broader strategy to strengthen its climate resilience with support from the World Bank. More recently, Delhi’s government said that all vehicles operating in the capital should be electric after 2030. While these progressive policies are a great step, states must also provide the necessary support to tour and fleet operators – for example by financially helping them to retrofit their vehicles – to drive higher compliance.

Energy and maintenance infrastructure: Battery swapping stations are a natural alternative to public charging points, whose numbers are still low due to volume, space, and usability constraints. Kiosk-style swap stations make it possible for tourists to get their used batteries replaced in minutes. Public-private partnerships between cities and battery-swapping companies can create dense swapping networks and repair garages on busy tourist routes.

Usage incentives: Another great idea is to provide EV users with preferential parking at busy tourist destinations. Authorities can also create a larger EV quota at tourist arrival zones like airports and rail stations and build EV rental kiosks near hotels and local attractions.

Behaviour change communication: The above efforts need to be backed by a nationwide communication effort around the features and benefits of micromobility-enabled tourism. Users, operators and authorities must learn that such services check all the boxes of price, accessibility, sustainability, inclusivity, and energy-efficiency, and are thus in the sector’s best interest. To realise the vision of an “electric renaissance” in India’s tourism sector, all the concerned stakeholders – governments, solution providers, tour operators, and town planners – must get together to create a joint roadmap. This approach could make India a global leader in eco-tourism and enable many more travellers, both domestic and international, to explore the country’s incredible treasures in a smart, responsible and sustainable manner.

(The author is Director – Policy and Infrastructure Partnerships at Yulu. Views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily those of financialexpress.com.)