Government planning electric vehicle charging kiosks at 69,000 petrol pumps

An underdeveloped charging ecosystem is one of the many factors restricting the uptake of electric four-wheelers in India. A limited number of products and higher costs than combustion-engine powered vehicles are the other deterrents.

November 24, 2020 Uma Gupta

The Indian government has taken a series of steps to boost electric vehicle adoption in the nation.

Image: Stadtwerke Heidelberg

Transport minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that the government plans to set up at least one electric vehicle charging kiosk at around 69,000 petrol pumps across the country to support easy migration to electric mobility.

The move is part of the government’s efforts to create an ecosystem to accelerate EV adoption in the nation.

To make EVs cheaper, the government has already reduced the goods and services tax (GST) to 5% and allowed the sale and registration of electric vehicles (EVs) without pre-fitted batteries. The battery could be provided separately by the original equipment manufacturer or the energy service provider.

The move is aimed to improve EV demand as delinking the battery will lower the upfront cost of these vehicles.

For the promotion of electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles, there were recommendations brought to the ministry’s notice to delink the cost of the battery (which accounts for 30-40% of the total cost) from the vehicle cost.

Gadkari said the Government is also working towards making India a global automobile manufacturing hub in the next five years. He added the nation is already the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the world.

Considering the huge potential of the sector Government has earmarked over INR 51,000 crore for this sector under Production Linked Incentive (PLI), the highest amongst the ten champion sectors.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.