India targets 100% electric public transport via FAME
Union Minister Anant Geete, on Wednesday, said the government is committed to making the country's public transport system fully electric, and emphasised that there lies a need to increase incentives to promote electric-mobility in India.
The Minister also said that the Centre is targeting a fully electric fleet for public transport, including buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws under the second-phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme. The pilot phase of FAME India, launched in 2015, expires March 31, 2018. Thereafter, Phase II will be launched. "We will accord priority to public transport in FAME II. Our primary objective will be that the country's public transport should be 100 per cent electric. If the public transport is 100 per cent, then we can reduce pollution to a great extent," Geete told reporters in the capital. The Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) on Wednesday announced the launch of a multi-modal transport system based on electric powertrains. "The present effort is a significant boost to electric mobility with the aim to roll out a number of electric buses, electric three-wheelers and electric shared cabs for multi-modal public transport," the Heavy Industries Ministry said. An Expression of Interest (EoI) inviting proposals from million-plus cities and special category states for multi-modal transport was issued by the DHI on October 31, 2017. Under this EoI, additional incentives were also proposed to augment electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure for public transport.
In response to the EoI, the DHI received 47 proposals from 44 cities across 21 states having requirement of 3,144 buses, 2,430 e-four wheeler taxis and 21,545 e-three wheeler autos with the total financial support of Rs 4,054.6 crore sought from the Government of India. After evaluating the proposals, 11 cities were selected for a pilot project for multi-modal electric public transport under the FAME India scheme.
The cities are Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Jammu and Guwahati. "These cities are required to finalise the tendering process, and issue [procurement] orders before February 28, 2018. Through this EoI, the DHI is expected to spend about Rs 437 crore under FAME India (Phase I), which includes about Rs 40 crore as incentives for installation of charging infrastructure. e to lower the cost of lithium ion batteries used in electric vehicles. About the lack of EV charging infrastructure in the country, Geete said that all fuel stations could be converted into EV charging stations.