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The Department of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises has written to the Finance Ministry seeking a grant of ₹250-300 crore for starting from April-May a series of pilot projects on public transportation through electric vehicles.
Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel has written to Finance Minister P Chidambaram asking for the grant from the automotive cess, ‘which is usually to the tune of ₹250-300 crore’ to be allocated to his Ministry for 2014-15.
The amount will be used to give incentives to the State Governments or the special purpose vehicles to promote green technology for mass transportation.
“With a view to complete the entire chain of activities by April-May, there will be an immediate need of kick starting the Electric Mobility Mission by release of incentives in the first quarter of the new financial year,” Patel said in the letter, accessed by Business Line.
The project is at an advanced stage of consideration in Delhi, whereas five other States — Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — have been brought into the ambit of pilot scheme.
The pilot project is part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020, which was unveiled by the Prime Minister in January 2013.
The objective of this project is to mitigate the impact of vehicles on the environment and growth of domestic manufacturing capabilities.
It is estimated that six-seven million new electric vehicle sales , along with resultant liquid fuel savings of 2.2-2.5 million tonnes, can be achieved in 2020. This will also result in substantial lowering of vehicular emissions and decrease in carbon dioxide emissions by 1.3 per cent to 1.5 per cent in 2020 .
It is also estimated that the Government will need to provide support to the tune of ₹13,000-14,000 crore over the next five-six years.
The industry will also need to match this with a much larger investment for developing the products and creating the manufacturing eco-system.
First moversCompanies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, TVS Motor Company and others have been working on such vehicles.
However, the first mover advantage for such pilot projects will be M&M, which already has electric vehicles like e2o.
The company is also working on its existing vehicles such as Maxximo to convert them into a hybrid or electric vehicle for mass movement.
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