Chinese major BYD Auto Industries Company Ltd, a major global player in the EV segment, has come up with a proposal to set up a manufacturing unit for electric vehicles, including buses, cars, autos and trucks.

Representatives of BYD (meaning Beyond Your Dreams) had called on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao with their proposal to set up a unit in the State. BYD General Manager Liu Xueliang, Executive Director Zhang Jie, and others participated in the meeting.

Assuring all necessary Government support for the proposed project, the Chief Minister expressed his willingness to encourage usage of electric vehicles in the metropolis of Hyderabad, according to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.

He said, “We need to encourage 100 per cent electric vehicle usage to make Hyderabad city pollution-free. EV adoption would be taken up in phases and GHMC and TSRTC as well as private institutions will be encouraged to deploy them.”

During the meeting, the Chief Minister assured that the Government would extend all help required for setting up of the vehicle unit. He said the only way to reduce pollution due to vehicles is to encourage the usage of EVs in towns and cities.

500 vehicles

Chandrashekhar Rao announced that Telangana will order for purchase of 500 vehicles in the first phase. Referring to the manufacturing unit, he said there was huge potential in the country for electric vehicles.

The Chief Minister had a brief ride in the electric bus designed and developed by BYD and was impressed with the quality of buses. According to BYD representative, a single charge takes through 300-400 kilometres and it takes about three hours to fully charge.

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