As many as 139 electric vehicle charging stations have been set up by Indian Oil in Assam since 2020-21 to meet the country’s net zero emission target by 2070. Altogether, 270 such stations have been set up across the NE region.
G Ramesh, executive director and state head of Indian Oil, Assam Oil Division, said Indian Oil is planning to set up 230 more EV charging stations across the northeast in the current financial year. “Setting up the stations will encourage people to shift towards electric vehicles and in that way, we together will be able to reduce the carbon emission sooner. Net zero emission by 2070 is a target set up by the Central government. However, we believe that if we move in tandem, then we will be able to make zero emission by 2046, which would be 100 years of Independence,” he added.
Apart from 139 EV charging stations in Assam, 33 have been set up in Manipur, 31 in Tripura, 27 in Arunachal Pradesh, 26 in Meghalaya, 12 in Nagaland and two in Mizoram.
The Assam government brought “Electric Vehicle Policy” in 2021 and “Vehicle Scrappage Policy” last year with a view to promote EVs, converting the government vehicles and public transport to EVs by 2030 and scrapping the vehicles reaching 15 years of age.
The electric vehicle policy seeks to encourage rapid adoption of electric vehicles in a manner where they contribute to 25% of all new vehicle registrations by 2026. However, lack of enough charging stations has been the biggest stumbling block in the transition to EVs.
In order to attract people towards EVs, the state government announced an incentive of INR 20,000, INR 50,000 and INR 1,50,000 for two wheelers, three wheelers and four wheelers respectively for early adoption of EVs. Exemption or reimbursement of registration charges and road tax on electric vehicles for 5 years will also be provided as per the policy.
It is pertinent to mention that the state government-run Assam Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Amtron), in October last year, had sealed a deal with a German automobile manufacturer for setting up northeast’s first EV charging station manufacturing unit at the Tech City in Bongora near Guwahati.
