The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, has issued a tender for 117 battery-operated carts for solid waste management in the village panchayats of Vellore district.

The purview of work includes the supply of battery-operated e-carts for solid waste management activities at designated places as per the requirement of the district collector of Vellore. The battery-operated e-carts should be covered under a comprehensive warranty for two years from the date of supply.

The vehicle to be used for solid waste management should be a three-wheeled electronic battery-operated cart with a roof cover for the driver and it must have been certified by authorized motor vehicle certification agencies, like the International Center for Automotive Technology (ICAT), Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) or other certifying agency approved by the government of India.

The deadline for the submission of bids is November 14, 2019, and the earnest money deposit (EMD) required is ₹295,000 (~$4179).

The supply of e-carts should be done within six months from the date of execution of the agreement. The successful bidder should supply 25% of the total number within two months from the date of the issue of the work order, 60% within four months, and the total number within six months.

As per the tender document, the bidder should be a manufacturer, assembler, or authorized dealer of e-carts for the last three years.

If the bidder is a manufacturer, the manufacturing facility should be ISO 9001 certified for design, development, testing, manufacturing, supply, and after-sales support. If the bidder is an assembler, the bidder should have a well-established facility and the required machinery for assembling battery-operated vehicles. And if the bidder is a dealer, then the documentary evidence for the same issued by the manufacturer should be enclosed.

The interested parties should have recorded an annual turnover of not less than ₹100 million (~$1.42 million) in any one of the past three years.

The document further adds that the interested entities should also have supplied a cumulative number of 25 battery-operated vehicles over the last three years to any of the government departments, corporations, local bodies, residential or industrial premises, or townships maintained by private organizations.

With the rising awareness regarding the benefits of electric vehicles, there has been an upswing in the number of tenders floated by states for the procurement of electric vehicles like e-carts and e-rickshaws.

A couple of months ago, Mercom analyzed the two and three-wheeled EV segment of the country and the players driving this segment forward. Read the full report here.

Earlier this year, the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) floated a tender for the supply of 100 electric rickshaws as well as electric carts.

Previously, it was reported that Kerala Automobiles Ltd. (KAL) had got the clearance from the Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to roll out 8,000 indigenous three-wheeler eco-friendly autorickshaws in the state.

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