Hyderabad: Telangana transport minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar on Saturday said that the state is a major base for Electronic Vehicles (EVs) and Energy Storage System (ESS) sectors. He said that the state will attract investments worth $4 billion, and create employment for 120,000 persons in the state by 2030 through EV in shared mobility, charging infrastructure development, EV and ESS manufacturing activities.
Addressing a high-level ministerial round table conference organised by the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries in Goa for the promotion of electric vehicles, Puvvada Ajay Kumar stated that the Telangana government is giving several concessions to those who buy and register EVs in the state.
The transport minister said that the Telangana government, as part of its new policy to promote electric vehicles, offers 100 percent exemption of road tax and registration fee for the first two lakh electric two-wheelers purchased and registered within the state.
He said that the first two lakh EV two-wheelers, 20000 autos,10000 light good vehicles, 5000 electric cars, and the first 500 electric buses would be exempted from road tax and registration fee.
The minister also said that Hyderabad has been witnessing a sharp rise in the usage of electric vehicles as many are preferring to buy eco-friendly vehicles to bring down carbon emissions. “While there were only 25 electric vehicles in the city in 2016, now the number has increased to more than 10,000,” he stated.
The minister said that the Telangana government will proactively support the creation of EV charging infrastructure in the initial phase and eventually create a market for commercially viable EV charging business.
He further called for the generation of demand for battery storage solutions by driving EV adoption incentives and supply-side incentives for battery manufacturing. “Telangana has come out with an extremely comprehensive policy and also ensured that energy storage policy is clubbed in with EV policy because these two are tight-knit ideas which need to work cohesively,” he remarked.