Telangana plans e-vehicle policy

The state government aims to use Centre's EV drive to make up for some of the missed opportunities

Telangana is coming up with a policy, backed by necessary incentives, to promote manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and battery charging infrastructure.

“Over the past four-five months, we have been working on a comprehensive policy for EVs. We are very close to giving it a final shape,” Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary, industries and information technology, Telangana government, said on Friday. Incentives would also be extended to buyers of EVs in the state, according to him.

The state government aims to use Government of India’s EV drive to make up for some of the missed opportunities in the automobile sector, including Kia Motors’ recent decision to set up plant in Andhra Pradesh, to become an automobile manufacturing hub to create jobs.
 

Ranjan said they have been in touch with a couple of global battery manufacturers and automobile players who have big plans for EV foray, such as Mahindra and Mahindra, to build an ecosystem for EVs in the state. Mahindra currently produces tractors, SUVs and small trucks at its manufacturing facility in Telangana.

Senior officials in the government are also said to be in touch with American electric carmaker Tesla to make the state a manufacturing base for India.
 

As a token of its commitment towards eco-friendly vehicles, Telangana government has decided to allow only EVs to take care of last-mile transport at all stations on the 30-km phase-I stretch of Hyderabad Metro Rail, which is likely to start operations from November 2017. As a possible value addition to the government’s upcoming policy incentives, Hyderabad start-up incubation centre, T-Hub, on Friday launched an innovation and R&D vertical in EV space, called Smart Mobility and Transportation Cluster.

A White Paper released by T-Hub and Carnegie India suggested technologies such as smart grid, smart communication and internet of things have tremendous potential as a value addition to differentiate EVs from traditional vehicles. Features such as intelligent charging solutions, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, optimised power distribution, self-diagnosis and remote services could significantly advance the user experience for EVs, it said.