Environmental Friendly Tempo Vehicle

As the population of Kathmandu continues to expand, air pollution is the number one environmental problem. It threatens to ruin the view of the Himalayas. The main contributors to the air pollution are the vehicles in the city. An organization came up with the idea to create a environmental friendly tempo vehicle.

Environmental Friendly Tempo Vehicle Correspondent: Kathmandu, Nepal as the population of Kathmandu continues to expand air pollution is the number one environmental problem. It threatens to ruin the view of the Himalayas, people’s health and the lucrative tourist trade. Tourist: I came here first 29 years ago and the mountains in Kathmandu were as – today if you’re lucky you can ever see the mountains in Kathmandu. Correspondent: The main contributors of the rising air pollution is the explosion of vehicles many of which use diesel fuel. Some of the worst polluters are Tempo’s small three-wheeler vehicles which zip in and out of traffic belching out dangerous exhaust fuel. Cheap fairs make tempo’s an ideal form of city transport and now two fast companies are developing battery run Tempos which they hope will help restore the value of clean air. Go Electric Stop the Fumes! Pushpa Pokharel: (General Manager EVCO)-Being from Kathmandu I’ve noticed the pollution increasing. This is due to the rise in the number of vehicles especially the diesel tempos and four wheel trucks. Correspondent: So what makes an environmentally sound Tempo. The body is made from the materials as an ordinary tempo with the chassis imported frin India, what’s really different are the electrical parts-motor, controller, converter and battery which come from the UK and US. Even with this expense the new environmentally sound three wheelers cost little more than the diesel version at around $7,000 US for one model. Correspondent: What are the drawbacks although the initial cost is the same each new non-polluting tempo demands three sets of batteries which are recharged every 60 km. with each battery taking 6 hours to charge, recharging is around the clock operation. Pushpa: The cost of the environmentally sound tempo is high. Details to follow… Correspondent: Can the electric tempo’s really compete with the old models which clump the roads. Pushpa’s company EVCO which already operates 12 vehicles wants to have another 50 on the road by the end of 1998 and 100 by 1999. It also intends to stop converting the existing diesel models. NEVI EVCO’s competitor have designed their owned brand of SAFA tempo to combat the pollution problems. NEVI already have a fleet of 30 tempos and they’re hoping for 300 by the end of 1998. NEVI also has Kathmandu’s first woman driver Sumitra Dangal a firm believer in clean tempo. Sumitra Dangal: (SAFA TEMPO DRIVER, NEVI)-The SAFA tempo is our only alternative to make the environment clean to reduce the noise and prevent air pollution. I think we should only use SAFA Tempo’s and not the diesel Tempo’s in the Kathmandu valley. Interviewer: What doe the customers think? Customer: I like the SAFA Tempo very much because there’s no smoke. It’s very comfortable and it takes you to your destination faster. It is especially good when compared to the others, good for the environment, good for everything. Customer: I like the SAFA Tempo because it’s run by batteries. There’s no smoke and it’s better than all the other Tempo’s.