Andhra Pradesh among 13 states backing central policy to promote electric vehicles

Nellore: Andhra Pradesh is among the 13 states that have approved the Centre’s Electric Vehicles (EV) Policy aimed at promoting the use of electric vehicles.

The other states are Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Gujarat and West Bengal.

Union minister of state for heavy industries, Krishan Pal Gurjar, stated this while answering questions on electric vehicles by V Prabhakar Reddy in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

To a question on the high cost of batteries in EVs, the minister said batteries are an important part of electric vehicles. It is estimated that the battery price would form around 30-40 per cent of the price of the vehicle. This is as per information received from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

“According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the average cost of automotive batteries declined by 13 per cent in 2020 from the cost in 2019.

By 2023, the global average price will be close to $100/kWh. Further, research is ongoing in the country on production of metal-air batteries such as aluminum-air and sodium-ion batteries for electric vehicles,” Gurjar said.