Punjab working on increasing demand for zero emission vehicles
Punjab Government is working on achieving an increase in demand for zero emission vehicles and Electric Vehicles (EVs) through carefully structured Government mandates and policy regulations, Vini Mahajan, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce, said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Northern Region Smart and E-Mobility Conference, she said the State Government also needs to ensure that manufacturers are quick on delivering on expected demands, the machinery is easily accessible and best possible quality & costings are offered to the consumers.
Mahajan also spoke about the need of an efficient system of maintenance of such vehicles, charging points, swapping of batteries, schemes regarding financing the purchase of eco-friendly vehicles, extended repayment, low cost EMIs and how the technology can be made feasible to the local buyers.
Devender Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Haryana, said aggregation of demand, research & innovation and economies of scale are three crucial parameters that determine the future of e-mobility in India. He also shared an envisaged project led by Haryana Tourism in collaboration with BHEL, where solar energy will be used to generate electricity supplied through the charging stations for EVs in the smart cities of the state.
Addressing the conference, K Siva Prasad, Principal Secretary, Transport, Punjab, said it is imperative that the transport authority should transform itself from the role of a Regulator to Facilitator, to ensure that the ideas are translated at the grass-root level. He also invited the industry stakeholders to contribute in framing the policy to make Punjab a clean and green energy efficient state.
A Venu Prasad, Principal Secretary–Power, Punjab, said the state is power surplus and one of the first few in India to announce special tariff for EV charging stations. He said Punjab has a sufficient capacity of electricity generation along with robust distribution system, making it ready to cater to the future of automobiles. Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, the three smart cities of Punjab are already pacing fast in development of sustainable and green public transport systems, he informed.
CEO, Invest Punjab, Rajat Agarwal, said, E-mobility is one of the major focus sectors in Punjab and we are working towards creating an enabling ecosystem towards the same. He said after 1st Feb 2019, no new three wheelers that use petrol or any oil based fuel are getting registered in the cities of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Mohali & Fatehgarh Sahib, hence permitting only CNG and electricity based transport in the State.
Around 100 senior officials from EV Manufacturing, Auto Manufacturing, Battery makers, Charging Infrastructure Companies Conventional & Renewable Energy Companies, Electricity Distribution Companies etc attended the Conference.
Source: dailypioneer
