Advisor to the State Governor K Skandan flagged off the operations of the first state-run electric bus service in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. After inaugurating the service at the railway station here, Skandan said, “The government will initially operate 40 electric buses on different routes in the state.”The buses are totally environment-friendly, Skandan said. Equipped with CCTV cameras, an electric bus can cover a distance of around 150 km after a single charge, a spokesman said. He said various charging stations would be constructed at different locations. The spokesman said electric buses are the need of the hour to protect the environment.
The electrification of vehicles in India will take place first for public transport and fleet as these run on fix routes and hence, it would be more convenient to set up charging infrastructure. Later on, with the scaling up of electrification of vehicles on a big level, the personal vehicles will start to go green. In March 2019, Modi Government approved Rs 10,000 crore for the FAME-II scheme for electric vehicles.
The scheme which will be implemented over a period of the next three years from 2019 to 2022 can be seen as more of an expansion of the FAME1 Scheme that had a total outlay of Rs 895 Crore. The FAME-II scheme primarily focuses on public transport, commercial vehicles along with the development of an EV ecosystem. This also includes benefits for the private electric car buyer and electric two-wheelers will also be a key area for the scheme.
Catch the latest auto news and reviews on our official Express Drives YouTube channel. Subscribe now!
