All govt vehicles may go electric in 3 years
Implementation of the plan will burnish the government’s green credentials after India agreed to achieve net-zero emission by 2070
PremiumAll central government ministries and their field offices may switch to electric vehicles (EVs) in the next three years according to a plan being explored by the government, said two people aware of the development.
Implementation of the plan will burnish the government’s green credentials after India agreed to achieve net-zero emission by 2070. Helpfully, EV prices are expected to come down to reach parity with internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles before 2025.
The prospective new playbook comes against the backdrop of power and new and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh earlier writing to all central government ministers and state chief ministers to convert their government vehicle fleets to EVs.
In addition, the Centre has chosen nine cities with a population of 4 million and above—Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat and Pune—for accelerated EV adoption.
“Central government ministries and their field offices have a huge fleet of vehicles, and migrating them to EVs within a set time frame will be a huge push for e-mobility," said a senior government official, one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity.
The government is planning to leverage the ₹10,000 crore Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (Fame) scheme, which is designed to support the electrification of public and shared transport and help build charging infrastructure for this transition. The scheme is an important part of the government’s strategy to reduce vehicular emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. Money allocated under Fame-2 is to be spent to subsidize 500,000 electric three-wheelers, 1 million electric two-wheelers, 55,000 electric passenger vehicles and 7,090 electric buses.
Experts said growth in cleaner fuels and EVs would dent the demand for petrol and diesel in India.
“Demand growth in petrol and diesel combined will likely decline to 1.5% per annum this decade, compared with 4.9% in the last. The trend will also be persuaded by policy interventions as India targets net-zero emissions by 2070," Crisil said in a statement on Monday.
Queries emailed to the spokesperson for the ministry of power on Sunday night remained unanswered.
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