IJAYAWADA: The Centre has sanctioned 266 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to Andhra Pradesh as part of the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme.
The Union government had rolled out FAME to promote the manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same. The scheme was part of the government’s initiative to reduce vehicular emissions and the dependence on fossil fuels.
The phase-II of FAME is being implemented for a period of five years, starting April 1, 2019, with budgetary support of Rs 10,000 crore. This phase focuses on supporting electrification of public and shared transportation and aims to support, through subsidies, 7,090 e-buses, five lakh e-three-wheelers, 55,000 passenger e-cars and 10 lakh e-two-wheelers.
In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha Tuesday, Minister of State for Heavy Industries Krishan Pal Gurjar said a total of 1,576 EV charging stations across 16 highways and nine expressways covering 25 States, have been sanctioned by the ministry under the phase-II of the scheme.
According to the ministry, at least one charging station would come up at every 25 kms on both sides of the highway and at least one charging station for long range/heavy duty EVs at 100 kms on both sides of the highway.
Of the 266 sanctioned to the State, Vijayawada will get the highest of 92 charging stations followed by 71 in Visakhapatnam, 68 in Tirupati and 35 in Kakinada.
The neighbouring Telangana was sanctioned 138 charging stations, of which a lion’s share of 118 would come up in Hyderabad. Ten each would be set up in Karimnagar and Warangal. The expressways and highways on which the charging stations would come up, and which pass through Andhra Pradesh, include the Mumbai-Bengaluru and Bengaluru-Chennai NHs.