New Delhi: Aimed at promoting eco-friendly vehicles, the government will be ready with its electric vehicle policy by December, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said today.
Accelerated adoption of electric and shared vehicles could save USD 60 billion in diesel and petrol costs while cutting down as much as 1 gigatonne (GT) of carbon emissions for India by 2030, government think tank Niti Aayog in a joint report with Rock Mountain Institute said last week.
"The government will be ready with its electric vehicle policy by December this year," Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Gadkari said here. He said a group of ministers, constituted to prepare the draft plan for the electric vehicle policy, has submitted recommendations to the cabinet secretary and is now preparing the draft plan.
The minister said a number of Indian companies have shown their interests to invest in electric vehicles and the related infrastructure. The policy will include both light and heavy weight electric vehicles like cars and buses.
The minister said the pilot of electric vehicle transportation is ready to be launched in Nagpur on May 26 which will include 200 electric taxis and an electric bus which may be replicated by other cities.
Dispelling doubts on problems arising out of lack of infrastructure for charging such vehicles, he said that a charging station was being erected there and it was not a problem.
The report estimates that India can conservatively save up to 64 per cent of anticipated passenger mobility-related energy demand and 37 per cent of carbon emissions by 2030. At current oil prices, this would imply a net usual fuel cost saving of approximately 3.9 lakh crore by 2030, the report said.
