New Delhi: The Union Minister of power and renewable energy R K Singh has urged the Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of States to use EVs for all official purposes.
According to a recent PIB notification, Singh has written to all the Union Ministers including the Minister of States (Independent Charge) and Chief Ministers of all the States/UTs to join the Government of India’s initiative on transformative mobility and advice their respective Ministries/Departments to convert their fleet of official vehicles from the present Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)/Petrol/Diesel vehicles to electric vehicles for all official purposes.
Such an action is expected to set an example for the general public and encourage them to switch over to e-mobility. The initiative is part of ongoing GO ELECTRIC CAMPAIGN launched by Government of India to promote electric vehicles (EVs) to meet multiple objectives – attaining the goal of reduction in emission, energy security, energy efficiency etc, the notification said.
On Thursday, the Union Minister interacted with the electricity regulators. The forum of regulators have decided to prepare norms on various regulatory parameters and issues. These norms would be adopted by the state commissions for best practices and faster implementation of reform and regulatory policies.
In February this year, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari made a case for making it mandatory to use EVs for all the officials in the government ministries and departments. He had urged the Power Minister to make it mandatory for officials to use EVs in his departments saying he will do so for his departments.
The use of 10,000 electric vehicles in Delhi can alone save INR 30 crore per month, Gadkari said at the time.
In July, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) became the first government body in the national capital to completely switch to electric vehicles. According to the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2020, all departments of the city government are supposed to shift to electric vehicles via lease model.
Addressing industry body SIAM’s annual convention virtually, Gadkari said the government is committed to delivering vehicles with flex engines that give the users an option to run a vehicle on either 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent bio-ethanol.
Kant said in the next two years the cost of batteries will fall even further thereby bringing down the upfront cost of acquisition for consumers.