In the ongoing Parliament session the minister of power, coal, new & renewable energy and mine, Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha said that around twenty-five charging stations to charge electric vehicles have been installed in Bengaluru, Karnataka under the FAME scheme (faster adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles). The charging stations have been installed a six different locations by Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, the sole manufacturers of electric cars in India as a pilot project. FAME initiative was first started by the government in April 2015 with the objective to develop and manufacture electric vehicles in India; the scheme was renewed in April 2017. This pilot project to setup the charging stations is one of the first of its kind of investment towards charging infrastructure. To make proper policies for EVs and hybrid vehicles government will need such kind of pilot projects to understand the challenges faced by EVs in India, It will help to implement electrification of vehicles by 2030. A common man perceives electric vehicles as expensive (which is a fact) and impractical. Project implementation and Sanctioning committee (PISC) under the watch of Department of Heavy Industries claims to have sanctioned setting up of over hundred charging stations in the Delhi-NCR region which will be installed by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited (REIL).
“Based on the proposals received under FAME Scheme, charging infrastructure in the selected locations would be sanctioned by the Department of Heavy Industries,” Goyal said.
In June 2017, two more proposals were sanctioned by the committee allowing a group of companies like Mahindra Reva, Ola, Lithium Urban Technologies and Asia Electric to setup charging infrastructure in the National Capital Region (NCR). REIL has also proposed to setup around two-hundred charging stations other cities like Jaipur and Chandigarh. In the long run the supply of electricity in e-mobility business including installation of charging infrastructure will be included in the corporate plan of government-owned National Thermal Power Corporation said Mr. Goyal.
