Andhra Pradesh puts e-auto mobility in top gear

Vijayawada: The State government is set to come out with a comprehensive action plan for overall implementation of e-mobility in the State to make Andhra Pradesh as a hub for e-vehicles (electric vehicles).

In tune with the national target set by the Government of India, to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity by 33-35 per cent of the GDP by 2030, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has already released its E-vehicles Policy incentivising the stakeholders on supply and demand side, said Secretary, Energy, Srikant Nagulapalli on Sunday.

He said the State government is now fully focusing on e-mobility which will mitigate the ill effects of climate change and global warming and helps in protecting environment.

On supply side, the State government is allocating 500 to 1,000 acres of land for developing electric vehicle parks with plug and play internal infrastructure, common facilities and necessary external infrastructure. Also, the government is providing financial assistance of 50 per cent of fixed capital investment to developers of auto clusters and automotive suppliers manufacturing centers (ASMC) specific to electronic vehicles. It is also providing financial incentives for private charging stations and hydrogen generation & refueling infrastructure, the secretary said.

On demand side, the State government has already created a separate sub-category for electric vehicles and the tariff is fixed at Rs 6.70/unit without any demand charges to promote usage of electric vehicles. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has already established 80 charging stations in Andhra Pradesh and supplied 300 e-cars to various government departments and the government has decided to setup 400 charging stations in 73 locations across the State to promote usage of electric vehicles, he informed.

The State has come up with an Electric Vehicle Policy and targeted to phase out all fossil fuel based commercial fleets and logistics vehicles in top 4 cities in the State by 2024 and all cities by 2030. The government has identified electric mobility space to be robust growth driver in the years to come.

The State government has formulated a scheme with funding support from the central government companies NTPC/EESL and other agencies to supply electric two wheelers on EMI basis to the government employees on voluntary request made by them without any investment from the State government.

The Energy Secretary said the employees can avail the electric-2 wheeler with range of 40 to 100 kms per single charge, which may vary from model to model and brand to brand for which EMI for an amount of Rs. 2000 to Rs 2500 is to be paid for a period of 24 to 60 months which includes 3 years AMC with zero investment from the government.

The Energy Secretary Srikant Nagulapalli said that NREDCAP shall be made authorized to operate the EMI scheme for providing electric vehicles to all government employees including cooperative societies, public sector undertakings and pensioners, with a special focus on village/ward secretariat staff and other low paid employees who opt for this scheme voluntarily. A GO shall be issued soon in this regard.