E-bikes on city streets targetted by thieves, who filch batteries

The BEST undertaking has been operating 1,000 such e-bikes across the city for the past few months. The thieves have been removing the plastic covers from the bikes and filching the batteries, which has become a headache for the authorities. This is one of the reasons why e-bikes are seen haphazardly parked or lying on the corner of a road or footpath.

Mumbai: Battery-operated electric bikes, which were recently introduced for seamless and instant last-mile connectivity from bus stops in commercial and residential areas, have fallen prey to thieves. According to officials from the BEST Undertaking, which has tied up with two companies, Vogo and Yulu, batteries from the bikes are being stolen and sold as scrap.

Mumbai, India - December 11, 2022: Vogo electric bike stand, on Linking Road, at Khar, in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, December 11, 2022. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The BEST undertaking has been operating 1,000 such e-bikes across the city for the past few months. The thieves have been removing the plastic covers from the bikes and filching the batteries, which has become a headache for the authorities. This is one of the reasons why e-bikes are seen haphazardly parked or lying on the corner of a road or footpath.

“We came across cases of batteries being stolen from well over 150 e-bikes,” said a senior BEST official. “We are assessing the damage and checking the entire fleet of 1,000. We have asked Vogo to replace its plastic cover with a metal one, though this is turning out to be expensive.”

BEST, according to sources, has already spent almost ₹1.5 to ₹2 crore on replacing the covers with sturdier ones. The Undertaking was supposed to bring 5,000 e-bikes on the road by June. However, this unwarranted expenditure is causing a hindrance in the expansion of the e-bike fleet.

Yulu Bikes, which operates 4,000-plus e-bikes for the mobility of people and goods, however, claimed that it was better off. The company said that its e-bikes were purpose-built for shared mobility, and at the design stage, multiple safeguards had been created to prevent misuse and vandalism.

“The physical vehicle is minimalistic and tamper-proof in design,” explained a Yulu spokesperson. “We rely heavily on technology to get round-the-clock, real-time information on vehicle health, signals on preventive maintenance and also act upon bikes that show signs of misuse. Our on-field staff maintains a continuous vigil on usage and takes preventive and punitive action against offenders. Overall, compared to the industry benchmark, the rate of vandalism and theft is much lower at Yulu (two to four percent).”

Yulu aims to have a fleet of over 10,000 e-vehicles on the road. The company claims that in Mumbai there are 3,000-plus daily trips for last-mile commute, and over 30,000 goods deliveries are done every day on their e-bikes.