State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid has termed the battery-run auto-rickshaws made with Bangladeshi technology the “Tesla of Bangla.”.
“They are using their creativity to build these vehicles. We are not stopping them,” he said in reference to American electric carmaker Tesla while responding to a supplementary question of ruling party MP Shamim Osman on Thursday.
The lawmaker had demanded a ban on auto-rickshaws, but the minister said that these vehicles should be encouraged.
“It may have mechanical faults. The return is much higher compared to the electricity that they are using. About 40 lakh rickshaw pullers, who are using electricity, are earning,” said the state minister.
He said the government is trying to move from lead batteries to lithium batteries. “We are working on a project regarding this matter. We will supply them with lithium batteries and take away the lead batteries,” he said.
Nasrul said there is a revolution going on now all over the world in terms of how quickly the transport system can be transformed into electric vehicles.
He mentioned that the efficiency of an oil-powered car is 20%. On the other hand, the efficiency level of the electricity-run engine is 80%. "Basically, we encourage electric cars to come to market as fast as possible.”
He mentioned that if it takes Tk100 to go a distance in an oil-powered vehicle, it will take Tk20 to go that distance in an electricity-run vehicle.
The state minister said that the Power Division has made it a policy to set up electric vehicle charging stations. According to this policy, anyone can make a charge station.
Demand to rise in summer
Meanwhile, Nasrul said the demand for electricity may rise to about 17,500MW in the coming summer.
He, however, said that the current total power generation capacity is 29,727MW, including that from captive and off-grid renewable energy, reports UNB.
“And the grid-based production capacity is 26,504MW. Among them, natural gas-based production capacity is 11,350MW (43%), furnace oil-based 6,492MW (24%), diesel-based 826MW (3%), coal-based 4,491MW (17%), hydroelectric 230MW (1%), solar power (grid) 459MW (2%), and imported electricity is 2,656MW (10%),” he said in response to a written question by lawmaker M Abdul Latif.
In fiscal year 2022-23, Nasrul said against the demand for electricity during the summer, the generation on April 19 was 15,648MW in the peak hours.
Due to reduced demand for electricity in winter, the maximum production of electricity this year has come down to 10,000-12,000MW.
He also said that the government has a plan for providing an uninterrupted supply of gas within 2026, BSS reported.
"We are planning to form a ring zone with an effort to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas across the country," said the state minister while responding to a supplementary query raised by Treasury Bench lawmaker Shafiqul Islam Shimul of Natore-2.
Considering the priority of gas supply, Hamid said the government has taken a master plan for priority-based gas supply, adding, "The energy division has taken a master plan on priority-based gas for supplying gas to industries.”
Under government policy, gas is now being provided to industries and power supply plants.
Before the period of 2008, the state minister said the BNP-Jamaat had no plan regarding gas supply as they provided gas to anywhere without any prioritized plan regarding.
The present government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, formed an integrated master plan in 2010 for supplying gas on a priority basis.