Telangana Prepares Draft Policy On Electric Vehicles

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has prepared a draft policy on electric vehicles which proposes benefits for manufacturers and to put in place the necessary support system towards embracing the new mode of transport.

The policy has three components - for manufacturers, users and support mechanisms, an official said. "The policy has been drafted. We have consulted the industry (players) to find out what are their expectations and most of those expectations have been included in the draft policy," the state's IT and industries secretary, Jayesh Ranjan said.

"The policy has three components. One is for manufacturers. Those who want to manufacture electric vehicles in Telangana, what benefits, advantages and infrastructure support they will get," he said. The second component in the draft policy is about the support for users who want to shift to electric vehicles from regular vehicles, Ranjan said. "Suppose I am using a regular car. If I want to shift to an electric vehicle, what kind of support I will get," he said.

"The third component is about infrastructure. Because, to sustain electric vehicles, you require charging infrastructure. Who will build that charging infrastructure; if some private sector person is coming to build it up, what kind of support they will get. That will also be covered in the policy," the official said.The draft policy has guidelines on facilitating the public transport to shift to the electric mode, Ranjan said.

"Finally, there will be something on public transport. What has been seen the world over is that moving a city into electric vehicle has to come from the leadership of the public transport providers," he said. "For example, buses, taxis, autorickshaws, all these people, how do you make them switch over to electric vehicles, the policy answers all these things," Ranjan said.

The draft policy would be shared with a number of other government departments to take their views before it goes for approval to the ministers and the chief minister, the official said. "Now, the draft policy has been prepared. It will be shared with other government departments, like transport, traffic police, municipal administration, energy...their views will be taken. It will go through a process of approval," he added.