Govt to prepare public transport policy with focus on electric vehicles

India has set ambitious targets of making 30% and 70% penetration in private and commercial mobility respectively by 2030

The government is preparing to implement policies to support public transport in most cities in the country. As a part of the push towards expanding public transport infrastructure, the electric vehicle industry is likely to get additional support from the government, an Autocar Professional report said quoting Tarun Kapoor who is Advisor to the Prime Minister. Kapoor was speaking at a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci) roundtable on Electric Mobility.

While the government is working out the policies to expand the public transport infrastructure in the country, there is a special emphasis on making the transition to using electric vehicles and not diesel-powered ones.

Kapoor said, "You can look forward to very large support from the government so that not only we will see the transition from diesel buses, but we will see more and more electric public transport which is missing."

Speaking about the proliferation of electric two-wheelers on Indian roads, he said that we should target close to 100 per cent of two-wheelers in the country in the next 5-7 years.

He also urged the automobile industry to make more investments in battery manufacturing along with the entire value chain of electric vehicle production. He added that battery manufacturing itself and making them ever more efficient requires continuous innovation and top-notch research.

Challenges in electrifying public transport

As India plans to electrify its public transport, the poor financial health of most State Transport Undertakings (STUs) presents a challenge. Poor charging infrastructure and costly electric vehicles add to this challenge.

Nonetheless, India has set ambitious targets of making 30 per cent and 70 per cent penetration in private and commercial mobility respectively by 2030, an Economic Times (ET) report said.

Leading the government's efforts towards the electrification of public transport is the National Electric Bus Program which is run by Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), a central public sector company. The company aims to deploy 50,000 electric buses across the country in the next few years, the ET report added.