In a bid to promote electric vehicles infrastructure in India, government has recently issued a new set of guidelines. As per these guidelines, government now plans to set up electric vehicle charging stations every 25 km on highways and roads across India.
Government wants to strengthen the Electric vehicle infrastructure in the country and wants to ensure that 25 percent of the vehicles on Indian roads to be all-electric by 2030. As per statement issued by Union Housing an Urban Affairs Ministry, several amendments have been made to the Model Building Byelaws (MBBL) 2016 and Urban Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines 2014, for establishing a robust Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure.
The ministry statement said,
The guidelines on Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure have been circulated to all the State Governments and UT Administrations with the request to amend their Building Byelaws and Master Plan Regulations.
As per the guidelines there should be at least one charging station on each side of the highway every 100 km for long range and heavy-duty electric vehicles. Government also plans to set up charging points in residential areas. The guideline also mentioned that there must be a public charging station on both side of the roads or highways on every 25 km.
Electric vehicles are the new talking point among most of the manufacturers in India and many are planning to enter the EV space by next year. For instance; Mahindra has announced that they will launch the electric version of the XUV300 SUV next year. Similarly, Maruti has also started testing WagonR EV in India, it has been spotted a couple of times.
Government has also announced that they have plans to provide benefits to buyers planning to buy electric vehicles. Under this strategy, government will provide a maximum rebate of Rs 50,000 and lower the interest rates on loans. This will make the otherwise expensive electric cars more affordable to the public.
Union cabinet might also approve the second phase of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles) in India this month. The scheme might offer a number of benefits like exemption from paying road tax, registration fee and parking charges for electric and hybrid vehicles.
Electric vehicles are at their very infancy in India. The government will have to roll out a slew of such schemes listed above to make sure that more people warm up to electric cars. A big shift towards electric cars could greatly lower pollution levels and also help save on the oil import bill.