State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid has said that the lead-acid batteries being used in Easy Bikes will create a serious health risk in the coming days if those are not properly managed.

“About 4 million easy bikes are now using lead-acid batteries. But there is no proper management for  dismantling them”, he said adding that after use people just throw away those batteries to the ponds.        

Nasrul was addressing a seminar titled: “Powering progress: Overcoming Challenges and driving Innovation in Bangladesh’s energy sector” at a city hotel, organised by International Growth Centre (IGC), a London-based research centre, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), on Wednesday. 

Also read: SC bans easy bikes from highways to prevent accidents

He, however, said the easy bikes, as electric vehicles (EVs) are playing a good role as environment-friendly vehicles as they are very efficient in terms of energy consumption.

“EVs create much less emission than diesel-run vehicles”, he said.

The state minister added  that the lead-acid batteries used by the EVs are harmful for health if not maintained under proper management.     

Also read: HC orders to halt acid-based battery-run easy bikes for harmful lead

The State Minister said that the government has now set the goal for generating 40 percent of clean energy by 2041 instead of 40 percent green energy.

“We’ve made this change in the target the green energy which mainly comes from renewable sources needs huge land. But we don’t have adequate land like India which have huge desert”, he told the seminar.

Atonu Rabbani, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka, Rohini Kamal, Research Fellow, BRAC Institute of Governance & Development Amrita Kundu, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University (joined online), Shefali Khanna, Research Associate, Imperial College London, made separate presentations on different topics at the seminar while Shahid Vaziralli, Head of Research Programme, IGC and Acting Country Director, IGC Bangladesh, moderated the event.

Also read: Quader calls for banning easy bikes and battery-powered rickshaws

Nasrul also said that the government is trying to import hydro power from Nepal and solar power from India as part of its plan to increase the share of clean energy in power generation.

Making a presentation on easy bike-used batteries, Amrita Kundu about $500-worth lead acid batteries are used by the easy bikes. But their charging and maintenance are not being done in an efficient way.

“Customers lack knowledge of good battery maintenance and charging processes, use low quality chargers while the system has high energy losses of around 30-50 percent, losses increase of battery age”, she said.    

Also read: No direct subsidy given to fuel oil: Nasrul Hamid