E-vehicles push: Power Ministry offers to lease electric cars to government departments

As climate change makes itself more and more felt, fossil fuels are being looked at as something that needs to be changed. In an effort to move towards something more sustainable auto companies have no doubt started moving towards the electric path. And while the road will be long and hard, it is not undoable. Here are the electric cars that are already on sale in India.

In a move which would give e-vehicles a major push in the country, the Power Ministry has offered to supply electric cars to central government departments, which can either lease or purchase them, according to a report in The Economic Times.

In the offer, EESL has proposed to provide new e-cars on lease to government departments, PSUs and agencies for six years with certain conditions. As per the offer, the agency will supply chauffer–driven cars for 26 days a month to the ministries. The cars will be available for eight hours per day.

The agency has also fixed the cost of leasing the cars at Rs 40,000 per month. It has also demanded Rs 260 per extra working hour and Rs 3 per km for travel beyond 80 km, besides payment for the electricity for charging. They will also have to bear parking costs, toll taxes and duties.

The cost will include service of drivers. In case, the cars would have been taken on lease without drivers, the offer price would be Rs 20,000 per month.

The offer is being considered “expensive” by some government departments, as per the report. The government officials and bureaucrats in different departments said that the offer might turn out to be “very unaffordable affairs” citing large number of riders. They further pointed out that work hours often stretch beyond regular timings, which would add additional cost to the departments.