Signing you in

Their turquoise electric cars were lined up at the company’s charging facility in the basement parking area of Urbtech Trade Centre in Sector 132 when the power went out. A murmur of grumbling spread through the group.

A company supervisor stationed at the site announced: “There is no light, remove the chargers now, put it back on once the power is back.”

A driver in his 20s, who joined the fleet two weeks ago, told a fellow driver, “Now we will have to restart the process all over again.”

Around two-and-a-half months after Vietnam-based mobility company Green SM launched its electric taxi service — Green SM Limo — in Delhi-NCR, drivers said they are spending hours waiting for chargers or going offline to conserve battery. The result: fewer hours available to take passengers and complete the targets linked to their weekly pay.

“We take the cars out in the morning from the hub in Ek Murti, around 17 km from here. Charging takes around 2.5 hours in case there is a long queue. Even after this, there is no guarantee that we’ll get our ride immediately. We get out, drive around the area and then a ride might come,” said the driver.

Another driver, who joined the fleet 15 days ago, faces the same problem.

He said he leaves his home in Loni, Ghaziabad, at 8 am but often gets his first ride only around 1 pm. “Every day since my first day, I have waited for around an hour at the station. Then the charging takes two hours,” he said.

That matters because drivers have to complete either 35 trips or 580 km over six days to earn the weekly Rs 7,500 payout.

“I’m left with only five to six hours in a day to complete the weekly target,” said the first driver, inserting the charger as the power comes back.

The charging problem is particularly frustrating because the company’s highest per-kilometre rate is paid during the hours when drivers most want to be on the road. Green SM pays Rs 16 per km during its peak periods of 7-10 am and 5-8 pm, said another driver.

So drivers have begun trying to secure chargers before the rush — sometimes at considerable personal cost.

“I once parked my vehicle near the charging station overnight and slept inside so I could get a spot early in the morning,” said the driver.

The station closes at 11 pm, he said, and private vehicles also use the chargers.

Charging is itself a lengthy process. Drivers said it takes about 30 minutes to go from zero to 20% battery, around an hour to reach 80%, and another 35 minutes to complete the remaining charge.

Back at Urbtech, the queue outside the charging facility had grown longer. A security guard from a nearby school asked drivers to move their vehicles to make way for school buses.

Waiting in line, a driver who has been with the company since its launch said he had gone offline with only 15% charge left in his vehicle.

“We were told there is some issue with the charging, so we’ve had to wait for at least half an hour for the past five days,” he said.

“It’s been a bother. If the battery drains to 20%, I close the app so I don’t get a ride. I sometimes come to charge my vehicle on my week-offs.”

Drivers make a beeline for the Sector 132 facility because it has more fast chargers than the company’s other two Noida locations.

There are 12 fast chargers and 3 slow chargers, which can facilitate the charging of around 30 vehicles at a time, said an official from Jio BP, which has installed the chargers.

A company official, who looks after operations in Noida, said drivers have raised concerns and these have been raised with the management.

“We have chargers in Sector 135 and 80 as well, but a majority of cars, around 100-150, go to Sector 132 as it has more fast chargers,” he said.

“We don’t have permission to install them in our Noida hub as it is in the basement, but we have put two chargers on the ground floor. These are slow chargers,” the official said.

He added that a facility is being set up at Golden I, which is 2-3 km away from the hub. “We are planning to expand the network in two-three months,” he said.

According to Green SM India’s representative, charging infrastructure is an important part of the firm’s long-term growth strategy in India. “We are progressively developing charging access across Delhi-NCR, including Noida, in line with fleet size, actual demand, and the operational conditions of each area. The network will continue to be developed in phases, ensuring that charging access grows effectively alongside the expansion of Green SM’s operations in the market,” they said.

“Green SM takes feedback from drivers seriously and has established direct channels through which they can raise operational concerns with the company,” added the representative.

The driver who comes from Loni said, “The company just wants targets to be completed… I worked till late the day before yesterday and could not charge my car, so today it is taking longer for me to hit the roads,” he said.