The Telangana government would issue its own guidelines to boost electric mobility infrastructure after the end of model code of conduct.
Principal Secretary (IT and Industry) Jayesh Ranjan disclosed this after he flagged off a mix of Mahindra electric vehicles here on Thursday. He said the Union Government has already announced Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) to boost electric mobility and to increase the number of EVs in commercial fleets. The State’s guidelines would cover the aspects that are not explored under the FAME, he said.
On the occasion, Mahindra and Mahindra announced the deployment of its electric vehicles on Uber to provide zero emission connectivity in Hyderabad.
Speaking at a media conference later, Mr. Ranjan said the launching of EVs on Uber platform was an important step towards electric mobility in the city, and added that the deployment of EVs in public transport and shared mobility was the way forward worldwide. In Telangana too, the TSRTC has introduced 40 electric buses in its fleet and more would be added soon.
He said the city was also keeping pace with the demand for EVs and the vehicle charging infrastructure was improving. The city now has more than 30 charging stations. The EV charging stations would be made available at metro stations, airports, railway stations and even shopping malls. Those setting up charging stations would be given subsidy by the Union Government.
The Indian Oil Corporation and HP were also providing space at their petrol filling stations for EV charging stations. The Uber drive data would be used to set up more charging stations to meet the demand, he said.
Mahesh Babu, CEO of Mahindra Electric, said 50 EVs were deployed on Uber platform in the city, which would be scaled up over a period of time. The vehicles include e20Plus hatch and eVerito Sedan. They also have plans to roll out the service across other cities to bring down urban pollution and ensure clean and green environment. There were over 14,000 EVs in operation from Mahindra and Mahindra in three and four-wheeler category and about 3,000 EVs in shared mobility, he said.
Deepankar Tiwari, head of Vehicle Solutions, Uber, Asia Pacific, said Uber was committed to adopting cleaner and environment-friendly technologies to power urban mobility, and their partnership with the Mahindra and Mahindra was a step in that direction. The EVs provide cost-advantage to driver partners. The eVerito would run for 140 km once charged, and its charging would take less than 90 minutes.
