Hyderabad: The city does not seem to be ready for electric vehicles just yet, though the Centre is encouraging people to buy the vehicles by offering income-tax incentives and increasing the prices of petrol and diesel.
There is no accurate data on the number of electric vehicles on the city’s roads. The city has 40 charging points and there are charging points along the Metro Rail corridor.
E-vehicles can be driven for about 100 km on one full charge but manufacturers were asked to upgrade that to 350 km since charging points are not available in many districts.
The Road Transport Corporation is running 40 electric buses to Shamshabad airport and has plans to deploy at least 1,000 e-vehicles within a year. The charging points are in RTC depots.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the NTPC have purchased about 30 e-cars and have charging units in their offices. Hyderabad Metro Rail has 300 e-bikes which it gives out to commuters as part of last-mile connectivity,
Most of the popular automobile manufacturers have announced their intent to sell only electric vehicles by 2030. Tata Motors sells the Tigor EV, Mahindra & Mahindra has six variants of its e-Verito and three variants of e20 Plus. To be released soon are the Hyundai Kona, Audi e-tron, MG EZS, Tata Altroz EV and Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR next year.
IT and industries principal secretary Jayesh Ranjan said EV manufacturers are reluctant to set up charging points in the city because it would not be viable if a minimum of 10 vehicles do not use the service every day.
He said four manufacturing companies have entered into agreements with the state government to manufacture and sell at least 1,000 e-vehicles, including two-wheelers and three-wheelers.
The number of charging stations will be increased to 100 based on the demand.
There is some interest in the EVs in the IT community as IT corridors suffer heavy air and sound pollution. Facility managers in IT firms say that the tax incentive announced by the Central government will not only help increase use of e-vehicles for intra-campus commuting but also help last mile connectivity.
B. Naresh Yadav, president IT Facility and Admin Manager Network, said IT firms would provide “green points” and privileged parking for employees who use electric cars.
