EV charging kiosk each at 69,000 petrol pumps across country, says Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways & MSME, Govt of India, on 23rd November 2020, said that the government is trying to create an ecosystem to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles in the country.

While addressing a virtual conference ‘9th Edition of Auto Serve 2020‘Electric Mobility Conference 2020-Seizing Opportunities in New Normal”, Gadkari said the government aims at creating core global competencies in India by facilitating the seamless integration of the automotive industry with the world. Gadkari asked the auto industry to come together to work jointly towards achieving broader national agenda of reducing pollution.

He elaborated a number of steps that the Government has taken to promote electric vehicles which include a reduction in GST to 5%, allowing delinking of battery cost of 2-3 wheelers from vehicle cost because it accounts for nearly 30% of the value, etc. Battery charging ecosystem is extremely important, as such he said. The government is planning to set up at least one electric vehicle charging kiosk at around 69 thousand petrol pumps across the country to induce people to go for electric mobility, he said.

He stressed that India is poised to become a global automobile manufacturing hub in the next 5 years. government has earmarked over ₹51000 crores for this sector under Production Linked Incentive (PLI), the highest amongst the 10 champion sectors, he said. He also stated that there is an enormous requirement of about 25 million skilled jobs within the automobile sector in near future.