Various ministries including road transport and heavy industries have submitted “non-fiscal” recommendations to National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog to clear the road for electric vehicles under Faster Adoption of and Manufacturing of (hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) -II.
Official sources told Moneycontrol that uniform standard for charging station and tightening of fuel efficiency norms were part of those recommendations.
“A sub-committee was formed (for electric vehicles) and the recommendations were submitted to it,” the official said. The suggestions were to use non-fiscal strategies to promote electric vehicles, he said.
He further added that these included immediate clarification of charging standards, establishing charging stations for range anxiety issues and tightening of fuel efficiency norms.
It was recently reported that a committee of senior bureaucrats has recommended to the Niti Aayog to tighten fuel efficiency norms in order to shove auto-makers, manufacturing four-wheeler with combustion engine, to move towards EVs.
Government is also considering adopting European electric charging infrastructure standard to promote EVs. It is used by German and American auto-makers and is accepted worldwide.
Government is also considering pushing EVs by making it mandatory for cab aggregators to induct up to two to three percent of new fleet as electric coupled with nudging auto-makers to move away from internal combustion (IC) route. He said that the government wants to have extensive network of charging stations across the country to remove infrastructural bottlenecks.