The city may soon get a modified building bylaw that supports the creation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and encourage the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs).
“Under the proposed bylaw, there will be one EV charging point for every 10 car parking lots in apartment complexes and office buildings,” said Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, at an interaction with The Hindu on Friday.
“We have been able to evolve this understanding with the Urban Development Department (UDD). They have issued a model bylaw that will trigger more things in the EV space,” he said.
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The principal secretary met 30 EV manufactures and ecosystem players on Thursday to discuss key issues. Mahindra Electric Mobility, a leader in EV cars, and Ather Energy, manufacturer of EV two-wheelers were among the participants. Mr. Gupta said that the plan is to set up 200 public EV charging points and take the number to 1,000 in the next few years.
“We plan to seek central funds of ₹250 crore under FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles) Scheme,” he said.
The participants also spoke about the possibility of setting up a research and innovation centre coupled with common testing facilities for better development of products, dynamos, motors and batteries, said Mr. Gupta.
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Although not many EV entrepreneurs in the country are showing interest in the battery business, Mr. Gupta said the participants discussed a wide range of topics around EV batteries, such as efficiency enhancement, charge density, safety and other key parameters. “Battery was also a thrust area in the discussion. There is some interest around battery. There is no reason why we cannot make batteries in India,” he added.
There were also discussions about skilling for various EV-related jobs. “That is a very broad issue. There is no easy answer or agreement, but the consensus was that we will assess the issue and try to come to a conclusion,” Mr. Gupta further added.