
Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) is the body in India that is working hard to implement the government's massive energy efficiency drive. The drive is getting implanted through electric vehicles, LED lighting, smart meters and other factors like demand side management and supporting measures.
In a recent interview with ETEnergyWorld, Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director of EESL said that like any new initiative on energy efficiency, electric cars are likely to be costlier than the traditional non-efficient model in the beginning and will slowly get affordable and convenient with time.
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He said that the basic ethos of EESL revolve around a service model based on “pay as you save”. He said that the first tender for 10,000 electric vehicles was closed around January 2018 and the operations are ongoing now. He added that before the cars, proper charging infrastructure has to be available.
According to him, currently about 370 charging points have been set up in Delhi and the city is running 153 electric vehicles. Almost 400 additional vehicles are under various stages of registration. He said that EESL receives a demand for 19,000 electric cars also from AP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. They hope to deliver 10,000 of these by March 31, 2019 as part of the first tender.
He said there are many more issues to be handled towards the implementation of EVs. Charging stations and range of the cars will play an important role, along with the registration processes. The government has specified a basic range of 130 Km, and according to him, the cars delivered have fared better than that specification.
In news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the global mobility summit 'MOVE', organised by Niti Aayog, hinted that the government will soon come out with a new policy on electric vehicles and alternate fuel units to strengthen the e-mobility drive in India. He pointed towards the industry wide demand and the changing needs of the sector.
The new policy will be aimed at supporting the automakers to raise production of battery powered and alternate fuel vehicles, in order to cut down dependence on fossil fuel.
It is to be noted that EESL cancelled the second tender for the reason that the government decided to change the specifications for charging facilities as they were meant for level one (basic) charge. They cannot charge higher end cars like Nissan and Hyundai.
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