Under India’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Mission 2030, the Ministry of Heavy Industries has announced the introduction of electric vehicles in the public transportation systems of 11 cities.

The shortlisted cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Jammu and Guwahati.

Union Cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises   Anant Geete said: “The centre has received a huge response for introduction of EVs under the expression of interests invited by the ministry. As many as 44 cities across 21 states are willing to introduce EVs. This includes across all segments—buses, four-wheeler taxis and three-wheelers or autorickshaws.”

The government wants only EVs to ply on India’s roads by 2030 as part of its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the global agreement on climate change, and to reduce spending on oil imports, which, according to one estimate, could double to an annual $300 billion by that year.

Due to limited funds available under the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles in India) scheme, only 11 cities could be accommodated.

For the rest, FAME 2 will be launched in the next fiscal, said Geete, adding that a subsidy of Rs4.37bn  will be provided to state governments for buying public transport vehicles under Fame 1, including Rs400m for the installation of vehicle-charging infrastructure.

The selected cities will be required to finalize the tendering process and issue supply orders before Feb 28 2018.

According to the ministry, 47 proposals from 44 cities across 21 states were received, requesting 3,144 electric buses, 2,430 electric four-wheeler taxis and 21,545 electric three-wheelers, which would require financial support of around Rs 40.55bn  from the centre.

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