Indian government is constantly working to cut down on pollution levels across the country and which is why it is aiming to increase electric vehicle use in the country.
After a considerable cut in GST applicable on electric vehicles, the centre has now approved more than 5000 electric buses to be used across 65 cities of India in the times to come.
The news was confirmed by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Monday. As per a tweet by Kant, the approval for 5,645 e-buses was given by an inter-ministerial panel for EVs.
“The inter-ministerial committee for EVs today sanctioned 5,645 electric buses for intracity operations in 65 cities and for intercity operations to 8 state transport undertakings. This will give huge impetus to automobile sector, clean up our cities & drive Make in India,” mentioned Kant’s tweet.
The decision is the latest in the process to promote clean mobility modes in India. Last week, GST council chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the reduction of GST applicable on EVs from 12% to 5%, bringing down the cost of electric vehicles for the buyers.
In order to boost the indigenous production of electric vehicles, the government is also working on to set up four new gigafactories for battery manufacturing within the country itself instead of depending on other countries.
This would lead to a massive reduction in import of lithium-ion batteries from countries like China and will also enable more price reduction in the electric vehicles being sold in India.
Green Number Plates are now ‘compulsory’ for all Electric Vehicles in India
The government had previously proposed a unique green-coloured number plate for all-electric vehicles in India.
The Central government has asked the state transport departments to make it compulsory for all Electric Vehicles to implement the use of the green number plates, despite the year in which they were bought.
It has been said that the number plate is supposed to have the vehicle number inscribed in white colour on a green background. The new proposal is supposed to help provide better treatment to the vehicles with no carbon emissions, like parking, free entry in congested areas including concessional toll on highways.
With new introduction of the second phase of FAME – Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles scheme back in February this year, the centre announced multiple incentives for EV users and makers the same through a total set budget of Rs 10,000 crore.
The assigned budget under the FAME-II will also be used to establish an EV infrastructure across India including charging stations.
With the second phase of the FAME scheme, the government plans to support roughly around 1 million e-two-wheelers, 500,000 e-three-wheelers, 55,000 e-four-wheelers and 7,000 e-buses. Around 7200 charging stations will be set up across major cities of India.
The effective measures are targetted to attract buyers towards electric vehicles in the coming years and also the state departments set up the required infrastructure for the operation of these EVs with such ease.
Interestingly, even Indian banks have started sanctioning loans for EVs at a minimum rate of interest than the regular auto loans.
As far as the state transports are concerned, electric buses and other vehicles are being introduced in a bid to cut down on the emission levels from the state transports.