Electric vehicles project FAME moved to Niti Aayog

NEW DELHI: The cabinet secretariat has shifted the electric vehicles programme to Niti Ayog from the department of heavy industries as most ministries wanted to have a say in the high-profile mission.

The moving of FAME or Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles programme to government’s premier think tank will help synchronise efforts of the different departments of the government to move towards an all-electric fleet by 2030, a government official said.

"Most ministries were interested in anchoring the programme and were acting in silos," said the official. The shifting of the programme to Niti Ayog will expedite the move, the person added.

The proposal, spearheaded by IITM professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, includes promotion of sales of two-wheelers, three-wheelers and city buses without batteries to cut costs.

The batteries will be leased at a specified cost and can be swapped with recharged ones at stations, another official said.

“A number of fast-charging stations are planned to be put up for cars, as swapping model is not being considered viable given their design,” the official said. The vehicles can also be slowcharged at homes and offices overnight.

The cars can be fast-charged in an hour and would consume 15-30 units of power, he said. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission will have to specify the cost for electricity to charge the electric vehicles.

Many state-run companies, including NTPC, Power Grid Corp and Indian Oil Corp, are vying to set up charging stations. NTPC has forayed into the business of electric vehicles charging. It has set up the first charging station at its offices in Noida and Delhi.

The ministries of power, coal, renewable energy and mines and attached state-run companies in Delhi will soon shift to electric fleet, and are likely to issue large tenders to spur demand for such vehicles. EESL will aggregate the demand for such vehicles and invite bids for bulk supply of electric cars and other vehicles for the ministries and PSUs.