Our Bureau
New Delhi
The Central Government had announced a major scheme to boost the market of electric vehicles this Sunday, on September 28th. They have issued guidelines that will help in availing subsidies for vehicle charging stations, battery swapping stations and battery charging stations offering up to 100% subsidies.
These newly introduced guidelines are under the ₹10,000 crore PM E-drive scheme for promotion of electric vehicles in the country. Out of this humongous sum around ₹2,000 crore has been set aside for charging infrastructure.
These guidelines were issued by the government to upstream infrastructure which also includes distribution transformers, low and high tension cables, distribution boxes, circuit breakers or circuit isolators, mounting structures, fencing, and civil works. Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) cost consists of EV chargers including the charging guns and these guidelines will help subsidise them as well.
According to the scheme guidelines, the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), States and Union Territories, and Public sector undertakings (PSUs) under them are eligible to submit proposals to the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI).
These organisations will be required to appoint nodal agencies to research and find out suitable locations for charging stations. Then they would be asked to forward the proposals from these locations to the ministry. The organisations will be required to set up, operate, and maintain EV charging stations directly, or engage Charge Point Operators (CPOs) for the same.
Several central ministries will be able to push forward proposals through their CPSEs or appointed nodal agencies. This will include ministries like Petroleum & Natural Gas, Road Transport & Highways, Health & Family Welfare, Power, Housing & Urban Affairs, Railways, Civil Aviation, Steel, and Ports, Shipping & Waterways.
Other public sector companies who are also eligible to apply are Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Airports Authority of India (AAI), Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), and metro rail corporations.
