Charging stations for EVs every 3 km in cities

To promote the use of electric vehicles (EVs), the government is planning to set up charging stations every 3 km in major cities and every 50 km on national highways.

The road transport ministry in consultation with the union ministry of power is preparing the e-vehicle policy, in which major concern on charging station issue will be addressed, said a road transport ministry official.

As per the plan, in the next 3 to 4 years, the government proposes to set up 30,000 slow charging stations and 20,000 fast charging stations across the country, an official said.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Global Mobility Summit recently at the national capital, auto makers urged the government to address the charging-stations' issues.

Some of the major public sector under takings like NTPC, Power Grid Corporation and big automobile companies also expressed their keen to set up charging infrastructure said the official.

As per the road transport ministry plan, in the next five years, electric vehicles should take at least 15% of total automobile share in the county.

"The demand for electric vehicles is huge in India. Our expectation is to take the number of electric vehicles to 15% of the total vehicles in India in the next five years," Road Transport, Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said recently.

The minister said surging demand for such vehicles will automatically see a reduction in prices while government was committed to creating a complementing infrastructure for these.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), vehicle sales across categories had registered a 14.22% growth at 24.97 million units in 2017-18 as against 21.86 million units in the previous fiscal.

Gadkari also recently said the government had decided to exempt EVs and automobiles run on alternative fuel from permit requirements in a bid to boost such vehicles in the country.

His statement came amid government's efforts to promote eco-friendly vehicles through Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme, which was launched in 2015.

To promote EVs, Gadkari's ministry has done away with the requirement of local testing for initially bringing EVs into India for sale.