EESL hands over first set of Electric Vehicles to PWD, Govt of Maharashtra
EESL to lease 1000 electric vehicles in a phased manner; hands over 6 cars in the first set
Mumbai: Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power, Government of India, today handed over six electric cars to senior officials of the Public Works Department, Government of Maharashtra. The ceremonial handover of keys took place in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis at Mantralaya.
The occasion also marked the installation of five charging stations at Mantralaya in Mumbai and two chargers in Nagpur, initiating development of a robust supporting infrastructure for promotion of e-mobility in the state. These five cars are the initial set and a total of 1000 electric vehicles will be leased out to the Government of Maharashtra in a phased manner by EESL.
On May 31st, 2018, EESL had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the General Administration Department (GAD), Government of Maharashtra to lease out electric vehicles and install EV chargers in state government offices. The agreement was aimed at supporting the State Government’s vision of generating investment worth Rs 25,000 crore in EV and component manufacturing, assembly enterprises and charging equipment manufacturing in Maharashtra.
The Government of Maharashtra announced its Electric Vehicle and Related Infrastructure Policy – 2018 with a vision to establish the state as a globally competitive destination for electric vehicles and component manufacturing while simultaneously promoting their wide-spread adoption.
Speaking on the occasion, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, said, “Maharashtra has initiated multi-pronged projects towards transitioning to an eco-friendly and sustainable transport system. Electric mobility is an attractive, sustainable and profitable solution to mitigate climate change and the threat to public health caused by vehicular emission. Today’s event is an important milestone in our journey towards enabling this transition.”
Hon’ble minister for Public Works Department Shri Chandrakant Dada Patil said, “The state government is committed to reduce carbon footprint by increasing the use of electric vehicles and to develop allied technologies. The government is thinking of long-term measures to make drastic changes in the transport sector and related infrastructure. We are also going all out to develop e-mobility and the necessary ecosystem which needs to be built around it.”
Shri Saurabh Kumar, Managing Director, EESL said, “The Government of Maharashtra is committed to enabling new technologies including EVs to reduce its carbon footprint. The state’s Electric Vehicle and Related Infrastructure Policy highlights its long-term vision of making EVs a game changing proposition in the transport sector. It is our endeavor to support this mission of the Maharashtra Government by promoting e-mobility and enabling a robust EV ecosystem.”
EESL has been receiving encouraging response on its EV programme from multiple states and central government departments. So far, agreements/MoUs have been signed with central and state government departments in Delhi, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana. EESL is also in advance negotiations with other state governments across India.
Towards enabling the Indian Government’s e-mobility vision, EESL first plans to replace the 5,00,000 conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars being used in government offices with electric variants. EESL has also established charging infrastructure across all the states where EVs are being deployed.
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Source: edelman
