Kerala Government has announced that the state will have 1 million electric vehicles by the year 2022. The announcement was made by Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac during his budget speech yesterday. He also announced that the buses in the KSRTC fleet will be replaced with electric buses. Thomas Isaac said in a tweet that Thiruvananthapuram will be the first Indian city that will have an all-electric public transport system. The minister also said that once KSRTC starts operating electric buses on a large scale, the state might ask the supplier manufacturer to start a manufacturing facility in the state. Apart from this, battery swapping centers along with charging stations might also be set up in the state to ensure smooth operation of electric vehicles. Furthermore, the Government announced tax exemption and subsidy for electric autorickshaws. An amount of Rs 12 crore has already been allocated for the e-mobility promotion fund that will be used to offer subsidy to 10,000 electric autos.
These eco-friendly autos will ply in major cities and the ones running on fossil fuel will be phased out gradually. Auto Industry is currently busy in the BS-IV to BS-VI transition. As the future is going to be all electric, multiple automakers have already started working dedicatedly towards the eco-friendly route. In order to promote electric mobility, Isaac also announced a 50 percent tax rebate for electric autos along with a relaxation of 25 percent for other EVs in the first 5 years.
With the recent announcements, there is no denying the fact that the Kerala Government is working pro actively towards electric mobility. A similar move is expected from other states as well in the coming months and it will be interesting to see what implementations and announcements will be made in this direction. Stay tuned with Express Drives for more such updates!
