The central government is working to amend the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME II) policy to introduce a subsidy for companies looking to set up electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs across India, Union Power Secretary Alok Kumar said on September 15.
The government will provide subsidies to the developers that will look to set up charging infrastructure in India, which will then be given to the state electricity distribution companies, added the official.
"We will provide subsidy to companies who will set up charging infrastructure for public transport in small towns, and cities," Kumar said on the sideline of INSIGHT 2022.
He added that to set up a 200-KW charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, a subsidy of around Rs 4-5 lakh will be provided.
The secretary added that oil marketing companies will be setting up electric vehicle charging infrastructure across national highways and are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of the new planned subsidy.
Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari also said that professionally managed public transport systems based on electricity in public-private partnership mode will get a good response.
Gadkari said that efforts should be made to discourage use of personal vehicles, while emphasizing that with the coming of electric buses there will be a reduction in pollution and the country will be able to reduce import of diesel and crude oil.
Appreciating the London transport model, the Minister said people want more comfort at less rate. He proposed the use of a card or QR code-based entry-exit system in place of a physical ticket system in the buses to prevent losses to the bus corporations and promote ease of traveling.
Earlier this week, Gadkari asked officials of his department to look for a uniform charging system for electric buses manufactured by different companies.
The minister said that the prices of EVs will be on par with the cost of petrol vehicles in the country within one or two years.
Gadkari said the government's target is to reduce the logistic costs to 10 percent of GDP before the end of 2024 from the present logistic cost of 14-16 percent.
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