The central government of India has given green signal to a project related to the promotion of eco-friendly hybrid and electric vehicles in the country, followed by a whopping investment of Rs. 23,000 crore, close to $4 billion. Reportedly, the massive investment will be made in tenure of over eight years.
Director in the ministry of heavy industries and public sector enterprises, Vikram Gulati, told IANS, “The first meeting of the National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM) has adopted the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP 2020). The NEMMP is a vision document that envisages promotion of electric and hybrid vehicles in the country in the next eight years.”
A sum of Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 23,000 crore has been contrived by the government for NEMMP 2020, including private investments. The document envisages rolling out of 60-70 lac hybrid and electric vehicles by 2020, including two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger cars and trucks. NEMMP 2020 is a branch of the Automotive Mission Plan (AMP) 2016, which is operated under the national mission of electric mobility.
He further added, “NEMMP 2020 objectives are meant to be achieved by state help that includes provisions for setting up of a manufacturing units, acquisition of technologies, setting up of infrastructure and demand creation.”
Presently, electric and hybrid vehicles account for less than 1 per cent share in the overall 17 million units sold annually in the Indian automotive market. In order to make the project more lucrative, experts have proposed the utilisation of fossil fuels, which will three-fold the profits, keeping the actual amount of money invested in the project constant.
Gulati further commented that the regulating authorities will soon deliver a final verdict on different schemes under the head of NEMMP 2020, which will be then dispatched for the government's approval. On this, he said, “The vision document will now be converted into schemes and will be sent for final government approvals. We expect the process to take a minimum of three-six months.”
