PUNE: Maharashtra, the leader in overall electric vehicle (EV) sales in the country, has far fewer e-autorickshaws than most of the big states, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra has registered 16,120 electric three-wheelers since 2014 as compared to a total of 9.42 lakh overall autorickshaw registrations over the same period. The bulk of the three-wheelers are being operated on petrol-CNG, petrol and diesel, showed data maintained by Vahan, a platform owned by the Union highway ministry.

New Delhi - REC Chairman and Managing Director Vivek Kumar Dewangan on Thursday flagged off the first fleet of electric staff vehicles in Gurugram. In a path towards a green future, REC Ltd has set a target of replacement of all conventional staff vehicles with electric vehicles by 2024-25, a company statement said.

NEW DELHI: Delhi government will provide electric vehicle charging facilities to people at its nine proposed bus depots. These new depots will come up in Kirari, East Vinod Nagar-II, Narela, Daurala, Burari, Savda Ghevra, Kapashera, Gadaipur and Chattarpur. Work has already begun at the Kirari and Savda Ghevra depots. A senior official of the transport department said that most of these depots would be ready by the end of this year and some by early next year. The official added that plans were in place to enhance the necessary infrastructure to promote electric vehicles in the city

A strong public charging infrastructure is crucial for the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), according to Abhay Bakre, DG of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. Speaking at a conference in Delhi, Bakre identified establishing infrastructure as the key problem facing EV adoption, adding that the economies of scale of the sector could reduce the costs of associated technologies. India is seen as a key growth market for EVs, with sales more than tripling to 10.54 lakh units last year. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency is part of the Ministry of Power and promotes energy-efficient projects and guidelines.

Battery-swapping solution provider Esmito has joined hands with ElectricFuel, an EV charging services provider to deploy Battery swapping stations in the Indian market. Currently, these services are being rolled out in Bengaluru and Hyderabad and will be scaled to pan India in the next six months. Under this partnership, ElectricFuel will serve as an EaaS operator enabled by Esmito's technology comprising Battery Swap Stations backed by its smart management platform and Mobile App.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised to make Karnataka a prime hub of electric vehicles (EVs) by supporting startups, setting up EV charging stations, and converting public transport buses into EVs. The party plans to establish an EV city outside Bengaluru and develop it as the state capital region focusing on ease of life and transportation, as well as creating an ecosystem for digital innovation. The party aims to establish a K-Agri Fund worth INR 30,000 crore to modernize APMCs, mechanize farming, and open five new agro-industry clusters and three food processing parks to boost the agriculture sector.

India's flagship electric mobility scheme, FAME II, has been mired in controversies over allegations of manufacturers flouting value-addition norms and under-pricing electric vehicles to claim subsidies. The government is planning to recover subsidies from Hero Electric and Okinawa, following investigations which found they had violated FAME India scheme provisions. Approximately ₹1,100 crore of subsidy was withheld from 12 electric two-wheeler makers after several wrongfully declared imported components as locally sourced. The controversy has created an environment of uncertainty surrounding FAME II, which may end after this financial year.

NASHIK: Over 16 private firms, including a few multi-national corporations (MNCs), have shown interest in getting involved in the e-vehicles (EV) charging station project of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC)

Greencell Mobility has been promoted by Eversource Capital, India’s leading climate impact investor. Eversource Capital is an equal joint venture between Everstone Group, one of Asia’s premier investment manager with assets in excess of US$7 billion across private equity, sustainability and climate impact, logistics, digital and venture capital; and Lightsource bp, a global leader in development and management of solar energy projects.

The capital city of India ranks 4th on list of world’s most polluted cities, according to IQAir, and many other cities are not too far behind where humans and plants too are engulfed in evil smoke. The hazardous level of pollution across metros and even in lower tier cities in India that is sizzling with heat waves necessitates finding alternatives to pollution-causing elements and switching to a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

The current reality is that India’s transport sector is heavily reliant on fossil fuels (India's transport sector is responsible for 13.5% of India’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions), and the year-on-year increase in India’s transport market, driven by urbanization and population and economic growth, has led to a corresponding increase in the import of crude oil.

Vijayawada - Aimed at ushering in a revolution of electric vehicles, the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NREDCAP) is facilitating the setting up of 250 charging stations this year, and another 100 next year. As part of this initiative, Energy Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy has inaugurated a charging station near Durga temple in the city and launched the Renewable Energy Resources Centre (RERC), established by NREDCAP and AP State Council of Science & Technology (APCOST).

The four-wheeler charging stations would provide 24x7 charging facility along with maintenance support to electric vehicle owners in Coimbatore and neighbouring cities. "We are pleased to partner with Coimbatore Municipal Corporation which is the second largest corporation in Tamil Nadu to provide optimal EV charging solutions to all EV users in the city and nearby areas," Tata Power head-business development (EV charging) Virendra Goyal said in a statement.

New Delhi - As summer begins, reports have surfaced about fire episodes at Battery Smart-operated swapping stations for electric vehicle (EV) batteries in north India

Coimbatore: The corporation is planning to set up charging stations for four-wheeler electric vehicles at 20 places across the city. The civic body signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Power on Wednesday to set up the charging hubs, a corporation official said.

Mangaluru: The city may have to wait longer for the KSRTC Mangaluru division to introduce electric buses. The division is expecting around 50 vehicles. Though the routes have been finalised, the setting up of charging stations at Mangaluru, Kundapur, Manipal and Dharmasthala will take at least three months. In March, the KSRTC state division inducted 25 air-conditioned e-buses called ‘EV Power Plus’.

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari, has said that as electric vehicles become more popular, it is important to recognize that electric vehicle charging stations are also susceptible to cyber-attacks and security incidents, just like any other technological application. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has received reports of vulnerabilities in products and applications related to electric vehicle charging stations, according to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari's written reply to Lok Sabha on Thursday.

As per the charging infrastructure action plan for 2022-25, the transport department will set up 18,000 public EV charging stations across the city by 2024. In an effort to accelerate the switch to electric vehicles (EVs), the Delhi transport department will make a district-wise plan to upgrade the EV charging infrastructure across the city, according to the Delhi transport department.

PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: To encourage the use of electric vehicles (EVs) within the civic limits, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Thursday announced additional tax benefits. It has planned a 2%-5% discount on the general tax component of property tax for property owners or housing societies setting up EV charging stations on their premises.

NASHIK: The civic body’s decision of giving an 8% rebate to prompt taxpayers, who pay annual property tax in April, has yielded good results. Apart from this, they will get an additional rebate of 5% if they install any one of the facilities like EV charging stations, rainwater harvesting etc. on their premises. Last financial year, the civic body had set a property tax collection target of Rs 150 crore.