Every other day, we see/hear the electric vehicle heat gaining rapidly. Some new rule or another EV manufacturer hawking its wares almost always is in the news. Kerala though has gone one step ahead. God’s own country is targeting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2022. CM Pinarayi Vijayan recently announced that around 3,000 buses, 1,000 good carriers, two-lakh two wheelers, 100 ferries and 50,000 three-wheelers are part of this plan. The CM was part of a two day event called Evolve that was held in Kochi. He also urged those present to adopt EV methods suitable for the state. The state capital will have 100 per cent electric public transport by the end of this year, the CM promised. Credit must be given to the fact that India’s first LNG bus as well as solar ferry were started in Kerala.
Kerala Automobiles Limited, a state-backed three-wheeler maker plan to roll out 8,000 e-rickshaws soon. Tenders have been already invited for the same as well. KAL has also announced a tie-up with HESS, an e-bus maker from Switzerland. The plan is to initially assemble the buses in Kerala and then later on start manufacturing. The state-run KSRTC will be using these buses in their fleet. On its part, KSRTC has already invited vendors to submit their bids for 1,500 electric buses. It may be noted that the government is also aiming to have e-mobility zones in tourist hotspots such as Munnar, Kovalam and Bekal. Industry hubs like the Secretariat, Technopark and Infopark too will be included in this plan.
Kerala’s big plans have got the thumbs-up from Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. He took to Twitter to laud the efforts and assured the state that it was commendable that Kerala plans to build every item required for e-mobility in-house instead of outsourcing. He further assured that the state will receive all the support needed from the centre for the same. Moreover, subsidies as well as exemptions will be rolled out in due course for the wider adoption of EVs across India.
Recently, Flipkart too announced that their entire delivery van fleet will go electric soon. We believe more and more manufacturers as well as OEMs too will follow suit.
