CNG firms plan service centres
Kochi: Immediately after the state government announced that 1,000 compressed natural gas (CNG)
buses would be introduced in Kochi, firms specializing in diesel and petrol conversion kits have
started flocking to Kochi.
GAIL officials confirmed this development and said that a host of firms have already firmed up plans
to set up workshops for converting petrol and diesel vehicles into CNG.
"A CNG station would be started at Kalamassery soon," the official said.
One such firm is all set to start an institute to train to ITI and polytechnic students on converting
vehicles into CNG. The firm, which will come up at Kalamassery, will have a conversion workshop
attached to the institute. Kunheedu K, who plans to set up the institute, said that he has plans to
start service centres, where after sale service of conversion kits would be undertaken. "At our
workshop in Malappuram, we have already converted nearly 1000 petrol and diesel vehicles. Most
of them were cars, Ford and Corolla models. We installed a software-based conversion kit which has
the provision to switch over to CNG," he said.
"For installing conversion kits in cars, the cost will be anything between Rs 30,000 and Rs 60,000. For
autos, the minimum cost will be Rs 30,000. In case of buses, the cost would be Rs 3-6 lakh. As of
now, we install kits in cars. We have plans to install CNG kits in autos," said Kunheedu, adding that
he had worked in Mumbai installing CNG kits in vehicles.
Once the training institute begins, five students will be given admission in each batch,with a course
duration of two months. "They would be given hands-on training. After completion of the course,
they can start their own service centres or we can absorb them in to our company which has
workshops and service centres in six districts," he said.
Kunheedu said after sales services is an important segment. "The customer would have a problem if
he brought kits from firms which don't have after sales services when the device develops technical
snags. So, after sales service is a very important factor," he said.
Once KSRTC rolls out its CNG buses in Kochi, the companies supplying the buses may also start their
own service centres. As of now, buses, taxis and autorickshaws in Mumbai and Delhi operate on
CNG.
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