CANACONA
Stating that the union government has initiated several measures to make electric vehicles more popular in the country, Union Minister of Heavy Industries Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey on Saturday said Indian auto must go global and look for a major share of the global electric auto market.
Addressing a Round Table organised by the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) at Canacona to promote Electric Mobility, Dr Pandey called upon the Indian industry to benefit from great upcoming opportunities in sunrise areas.
“They can achieve global scale and internationally acceptable quality products,” he said.
The Round Table was attended by Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, Union Minister of State for Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar, Secretary (Heavy Industries) Arun Goel, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, transport ministers from eight states and UTs, and secretaries and directors of transport from 19 states and UTs.
Industry leaders from the automotive sector, startups and technical experts also participated in the conference.
Emphasising the importance of accelerating the manufacture and adoption of Electric Vehicles in India, Dr Pandey said India should become a manufacturing hub of EVs and said India’s transition to Electric Mobility System can save Rs 20 lakh crore by 2030 on avoided oil imports alone.
The union minister touched on various issues which could impact and promote Electric Mobility across the country.
“The focus is on cities and urban areas where pollution is a major concern across the nation, but that does not mean rural areas are excluded. Efforts must be made to promote EV- Mobility throughout the nation.”
“Emphasis is on to provide charging stations at every interval of 35 km for 2-wheelers, and 100 km for 4-wheelers on highways, and in city areas, in a radius of every 3 km. There are no limitations imposed and we have also recently issued circular that home charging will also be allowed,” said Dr Pandey.
He informed that most vehicle manufacturing companies were also on board and would be part of this process. The wide issue of fast charging of electric vehicles is also being addressed attentively, he added.
Dr Pandey said the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India II) scheme incentivizes demand for EVs by providing upfront subsidies and creating EV charging infrastructure. The scheme envisages supporting demand of 10 lakh electric 2 wheelers, 5 lakh electric 3 wheelers, 55,000 electric cars and 7,090 electric buses.
Talking about the PLI Scheme for automobile and auto components, Dr Pandey said it will incentivise the manufacturing of high technology automobile and auto components in India.
The programme will lead to a fresh investment of over Rs 42,500 crore and will create additional employment opportunities of over 7.5 lakh jobs, he added.
Transport Ministers from respective States Perni Venkataramaiah (AP), Chandra Mohan Patwari (Assam), Arvind Raiyan(Gujarat), T J Lalnuntouanga (Mizoram), Chandira Priyanga (Puducherry), Govind S Rajput (MP), Puvvada Ajay Kumar (Telangana)and Mool Chand Sharma (Haryana) made presentations on ongoing measures on e-mobility in their respective states.
