HYDERABAD: IN a bid to promote Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing, the state government will assist private firms set up manufacturing units in Telangana by providing long-term lease of government lands at subsidised rates and a battery disposal infrastructure among others. These policy initiatives are in the last stages of consideration by the state government.
The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation made the announcement at the Electric Mobility Conference organised by ASSOCHAM with the support of state government on Wednesday. While lands would be leased out for setting up of charging or swapping infrastructure, battery disposal infrastructure would come up on a PPP model.
Though the State released a draft policy on EVs in September last year, the final draft is yet to be made public. The state through this policy hopes to encourage those working in the EV sector to set up their manufacturing units in the state. The policy also aims to facilitate the better adoption of EVs in the State, starting with Hyderabad. As a part of this, the government recently announced that 100 EV charging points will be set up along the Metro Rail corridor with the aim of improving mobility. However, experts feel public adoption of EV will depend on the ease of charging or swapping batteries. “The best EV batteries presently available in the market require minimum four hours to charge, so will the vehicle owner wait for four hours till the vehicle gets charged?,” asked Chandu Kumar Potti, MD and Chief Executive of Versatile Auto components private limited.
The other option available is battery swapping. “When one battery runs out, you can go to a battery station, like a fuel pump, and exchange the spent battery with a fully charged one. But this model is expensive and not everyone can afford a spare battery,” said Kumar.