BAGHPAT: The first electric taxi trial in the country is going to be launched in Nagpur from May 24, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.
Gadkari, who was here to inspect the Eastern Peripheral Express, told PTI that "Mahindra and Mahindra will be providing 200 taxis for the project."
The project will be undertaken by Nagpur Municipal Corporation and is the first project of its kind in the country, he added.
"We wanted to start the project early but there are some problems in setting up charging stations," Gadkari said.
Electric car taxi is one of the ambitious projects of the NDA government as it is part its of UNDP millennium goals and also to tackle increasing pollution in the country.
The road ministry for last one year has been trying to work on pollution reduction technologies for vehicles. An electric bus for Members of Parliament is also being run by the ministry.
The Rs 5,763-crore Eastern Peripheral Expressway project to decongest Delhi is on fast-track and will become India's first 135 km green road to be lit entirely by solar panels and have advanced traffic system.
The expressway passes through Sonipat, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and the proposed alignment crosses the Yamuna at Khurrampur/Khata in UP and Faizpur Khadar in Haryana and crosses the river Hindon.