Plenty of subsidies are on offer for firms that come forward to install battery swapping stations, Tamil Nadu Industries Minister T R B Rajaa said here on Tuesday. In his address at the India EV Conclave, held in partnership with the Tamil Nadu government ahead of the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet 2024, Rajaa said Tamil Nadu is among the few states with a future-ready EV policy.
The policy has paved a path for revolutionary changes in the way people will commute, backed by the ‘Battery-as-a-Service’ initiative, he said. “Plenty of subsidies are on offer for firms that come forward to install battery swapping stations, apart from concessions over cost of equipment and machinery purchase for setting up charging stations in public places.” Rajaa said Tamil Nadu is leading the ‘green energy transition’ revolution and the government’s commitment was acknowledged when it received the United Nations Promotion Award 2023 for excellence in scaling up energy transition investments at the World Investment Forum in UAE recently. The minister said “50 per cent of our installed energy capacity is green today, and we are targeting 75 per cent.”
“We are also in the process of developing a green hydrogen hub. If we also have a robust EV charging infrastructure, the transition from fossil-fuel dependency to green energy sources and renewables will benefit all,” he said.
The state government will strive to inculcate “climate common sense” into the “public mind”, urging them to be sensitive to this vital cause. Raja said climate justice is also about social justice. It is an understanding that vulnerable communities are often disproportionately affected by the impact of climate change. “Here in Tamil Nadu, the government is inculcating a ‘climate common sense’ into our people,” the minister said.
Systematic action includes reforming school and college curriculums to create climate consciousness. The conclave, with the theme ‘Electrifying tomorrow: Navigating the EV transition’, brought together heads of new mobility divisions of automobile companies, auto component systems, EV charging wings, policymakers, government officials, and domain experts.
