NEW DELHI: The Centre is mulling instituting subsidies or incentives to encourage the setting up of e-vehicle charging infrastructure, according to Power Secretary A K Bhalla. Speaking at an event here, Bhalla stated that the measures could be announced under the new policy on electric mobility set to be released soon. Currently, Bhalla pointed out, electric vehicle adoption is a “chicken and egg story” because charging stations would not be set up without enough e-vehicles and e-vehicles sales would not pick up unless there is enough facility to charge these vehicles.
“We are bringing a policy in consultation with heavy industries ministry that how these chargers can be established. Whether we need to support that with subsidy to begin with,” he said. “E-mobility is an area where government has been working,” he went to add, “We have clarified that for (setting up) charging infra does not need a licence as it is service-oriented activity. In draft tariff policy, we have put certain policy statement for encouraging power supply to these charging stations. We have notified technical standards for charging infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Bhalla also spoke on the success the UJALA scheme has had, pointing out that it has led to huge savings, 118 crore LED bulbs being distributed against the targetted 77 crore. However, he expressed concerns over the increasing gap between energy requirement and supply. “The gap is increasing and it is a big challenge. We are setting up renewable energy management centres. We have sanctioned 11 such centres and are ahead of time in achieving our targets,” he said.