To boost electric mobility in the state, the Maharashtra government on Thursday announced that 10 per cent of all newly registered vehicles in its major cities would be electric by 2025.
The Maharashtra State Transport Department on Thursday — during a virtual town hall organised to discuss the future of electric mobility — announced key highlights of the draft Electric Vehicles (EV) Policy 2021.
Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) Ashish Kumar Singh said that the policy is currently awaiting the final nod from the state cabinet.
Singh, who heads the committee drafting the new EV policy, said, “Today Maharashtra’s share of the country’s vehicle registrations is around 12 per cent (32,000) but the size is still not large enough to excite manufacturers. We are keen to take advantage of the schemes by the Government of India, and just like being the leading manufacturers of internal combustion engines, we will soon become a leading manufacturer of EVs too.”
He also added that the transport department has already consulted with stakeholders but they are still open to suggestions to the policy from the public.
Maharashtra’s new EV policy 2021 draft that targets urban agglomerations -- Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Aurangabad, Pune, Nagpur, and Nashik -- also aim to achieve 25 percent electrification of intra-city public transport and last-mile delivery vehicles by 2025. Under the draft policy, there is also an ambitious plan to convert 15 per cent of the existing fleet of 18,000 Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses to electric over the next five years.
The town hall was organised by Climate Voices, a collective of three organisations, Purpose, Asar and Climate Trends along with the Maharashtra Environment and Climate Change Department’s 'Majhi Vasundhara' initiative. It was hosted by the non-profit Waatavaran Foundation & WRI India Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities.
“The state intends on making the following four highways and expressways fully EV ready by 2025 including the under-construction Mumbai Nagpur Expressway, Mumbai Pune Express Highway, Mumbai-Nashik, and Nashik Pune,” said Dr Avinash Dhakne, Transport Commissioner, Maharashtra.
Furthermore, leading the way, the state government has also proposed that starting April 2022, all new government vehicles will be electric across major cities listed under the draft policy.
The share of EVs in new vehicle registrations across the state in 2025 is expected to be 10 per cent for all vehicles, 10 per cent for two-wheelers, 20 per cent for three-wheelers, and 5 per cent for four-wheelers. As per the target, at least one Gigafactory for the manufacturing of advanced batteries in the state will be set up, as per the draft policy.
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board Chairman Sudhir Srivastava said, “As the new EV policy is being rolled out by the state, MPCB is undertaking a parallel exercise to build draft rules on recycling lithium-ion batteries and associated electronic waste.”
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