Madhya Pradesh Government To Bring EV Policy Soon

• Bus Operators Confederation of India (BOCI) has said 90 per cent of 19 lakh public transport buses in the country is being run on tradition fuel – diesel
• 500 electric transport buses are currently playing in ten cities including Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune under a pilot project
• A large number of charging stations need to be built across the country so that electric buses can be charged, especially during night hours

The Madhya Pradesh government will soon come up with an e-vehicle policy in a bid to increase facilities for electric vehicles and bring down pollution levels, Urban Administration Minister Jaivardhan Singh informed PTI. The government would also emphasise on introducing electric buses and vehicles in public transport in the future.

The minister said electric vehicles would be initially operated in big cities like Indore and Bhopal. The upcoming policy would also regulate e-rickshaws and other vehicles besides developing required facilities for such vehicles, he said. Meanwhile, the Bus Operators Confederation of India (BOCI) has said 90 per cent of 19 lakh public transport buses in the country is being run on tradition fuel – diesel.

Existing challenges
Prasanna Patwardhan, president, BOCI, told PTI that 500 electric transport buses are currently playing in ten cities including Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune under a pilot project. He is of the opinion that though awareness has increased there is still a lack of adequate infrastructure for these vehicles. He added that a large number of charging stations need to be built across the country so that these buses can be charged, especially during night hours.

Listing the challenges in operating e-buses, the BOCI president further said that it takes a long time to charge batteries of e-buses as per the existing technology. Secondly, even after fully charging the battery, an e-bus can be run up to 150 km.

Patwardhan said that in such conditions bus operators are forced to use conventional fuel like diesel. He, however, hoped that basic infrastructure for the e-buses would be improved by the year 2030.