In an interaction with Sulajja Firodia, Founder and CEO, Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions Ltd., Rajesh Rajgor gets details about the company’s new range of fogging and spraying e-vehicles and how such innovations are based on today’s need for automation and environment-friendly greener solutions
Touted as one of India’s leading manufacturer of electric vehicles, Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions (Kinetic Green) has launched a range of ‘green’ solutions that disinfect interiors and exterior areas to create a germ-free and healthy environment, efficiently. The company has introduced three offerings, including Kinetic e-Fogger and Kinetic e-Sprayer range for disinfecting outdoor areas like public places, slums, large industrial campuses, hospitals, factories and residential townships as well as a portable UV sanitizer suitable for disinfecting indoor areas like hospital rooms, offices, etc.
“The idea here is to take leap in innovation for solutions which will create a germ-free environment. The operations of fogging and spraying are quite useful for big surroundings like gardens, parks, hospitals and housing societies and do not create any noise or smoke pollution,” says Sulajja Firodia, Founder and CEO, Kinetic Green Energy and Power Solutions. The innovations include a novel water-based fogging solution, Kinetic e-Fogger. Using advanced but green technology, Kinetic Green is propagating cold fogging instead of thermal fogging. “Cold fogging uses water as carrier instead of harmful diesel used in thermal fogging but is equally effective as thermal fogging,” she shares.
Customised Cleaning Solutions
The company has used Kinetic Safar, an indigenously designed battery-operated electric three-wheeler platform, for the spraying and fogging operation. Revealing details about the operational cost, Firodia says: “The cost of operating the vehicle is 50 paisa per km and it can be charged within 30 minutes with electrical power of just 3-4 units. The vehicle then can run the entire day with a range of 70-80 km in one charge.” Another important aspect that makes the vehicle efficient for the job is that it can travel even in congested areas or small lanes of slums and congested old city areas which are otherwise difficult to cover in a large vehicle or extremely time-consuming and ineffective on foot.
These convenient and green solutions can assist in overcoming the spread of the disease in such crucial areas. The third product, apart from fogging and spraying, is a UV sanitizer. It has been developed by Kinetic Green for sanitization of indoor areas such as rooms of hospitals, ambulances, buses or offices. It uses ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) disinfection method where short-wavelength ultraviolet light is activated to kill or inactivate microorganisms in the vicinity. It has been used primarily in medical sanitation and sterile work facilities.
“There will be two portable models suitable for different areas of 100 sq. feet and 500 sq. feet and will be quite effective to also sanitize the hutments in the Dharavi slums of Mumbai, etc.,” Firodia informs. “This proprietary technology is being developed by Kinetic Communications, a Kinetic Group company, and will be marketed and serviced by Kinetic Green dealers all across the country. The e-fogger, e-sprayer and UV sanitizer solutions of Kinetic Group complement each other as the spraying and fogging vehicle sanitizes exteriors and UVGI sanitizes interiors,” she adds.
Beefing up Capabilities
Commenting on the manufacturing strength of the company, Firodia states: “We can make around 3,000 to 5,000 vehicles per month from our plant at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra and source 90% of the content like the motor, batteries and the controllers from local Indian suppliers. As we speak, we also have a few hundred vehicles ready with foggers and sprayers. We would like to immediately offer this solution to the government and municipal corporations, especially to disinfect congested areas like the slums where the disease is spreading rapidly.” Kinetic Green has fully developed the supply chain and completed development as well as testing of its solutions.
A few of the e-fogger vehicles are already being used in places like Panvel in Maharashtra and Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh. The company is in discussion with many urban local bodies in India, including various Maharashtra Government authorities and expects to deliver many more in the coming weeks, especially to assist the authorities in their efforts to curb the spread of the corona virus in congested areas like slums in Mumbai and ‘peths’ in Pune. The company has made significant progress in the last three years with its various electric platforms, notable of which is the Kinetic Safar platform on which it is making multiple solutions that are electric. Elaborates Firodia: “We already have a low-speed passenger vehicle, the e-auto, for feeder services and on the same platform we also have a cargo vehicle of which we have given 8,000 units to Andhra Pradesh for dry and wet garbage collection.”
“We continue to innovate further as per requirements,” she adds. For the uninitiated, the company, a venture of the Kinetic and Firodia Group of companies, offers a wide range of battery-operated vehicles such as e-autos, e-carts and buggies. Kinetic Green has sold over 75 lakh vehicles and established itself as an innovative and progressive company, riding on back of the most advanced technologies, mainly electric, in the last four years. “We started with 70% import content and today are at less than 10%. We have 150 dealers across the country and have made significant investments in vendor development, manufacturing and research and development,” Firodia states.