HYDERABAD: Giving a push to the electric vehicle (EV) policy in the State, Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd (PVPL) launched Ape-E-City, an electric three-wheeler passenger auto vehicle, in Hyderabad.
The pioneer of three-wheeler goods transportation in India, PVPL’s Ape-E-City comes with a fixed battery, which can also be swapped. These electric autos can ply on the roads for over 100 km after charging for almost four hours.
Launching the Piaggio’s electric three-wheelers, Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar said that EV sales have gone up and the State is giving exemption of fees to them to encourage vehicle users to shift to electric.“Despite the burden of Rs 264 crore, the State government is giving exemptions in the registration fee and quarterly fee on EVs to reduce air pollution in the city and also to make them substitutes for vehicles running on fossil fuels,” he said.
According to him, over 300 electric auto-trolley vehicles and 26 passenger EVs have been registered and the registrations are expected to increase in the coming days. The State government has given a 100 per cent exemption of road tax and registration fee for the first 20,000 electric three-wheelers purchased and registered within Telangana and 15 per cent incentive of the retro-fitting cost capped at `15,000 per vehicle for the first 5,000 retrofitted three-seater auto rickshaws.
EV charging station inaugurated
An EV charging station was inaugurated at Engineering Staff College of India, Gachibowli, on Tuesday. The two 10 kilowatt AC charges can support simultaneous charging of six vehicles.N Janaiah, Managing Director, Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TSREDCO), who inaugurated the facility said that the State government has started a drive of providing electric vehicle charging stations throughout the State in order to contain the carbon emissions and internal oil pool account of petrol and diesel.