Himachal Pradesh Aiming for 100% EV Transition by 2030

Himachal Pradesh is aiming to achieve 100 percent transition to EV by 2030 in alignment with the United Nation’s sustainable development goals

Himachal Pradesh is aiming to achieve 100 percent transition to electric vehicles (EV) by 2030 in alignment with the United Nation’s sustainable development goals, according to sources close to the government.

A meeting to frame the draft for the Himachal Pradesh Electric Vehicle Policy 2019 was held in Shimla earlier this week, chaired by State Chief Secretary Shrikant Baldi.

Baldi said that the vision of the policy was to establish Himachal as a model state for electric vehicle adoption and to provide sustainable, safe, eco-friendly, inclusive and integrated mobility. The policy aimed to save the environment, accelerate demand for electrical vehicles, promote a sustainable transport system and create a public-private charging infrastructure, he added.

The Chief Secretary said that a provision for charging spots in commercial buildings such as hotels and shopping malls has also been included in the policy.

In August, we reported that the Gujarat government plans to come out with an electric vehicles (EV) policy soon, announcing huge incentives for using EVs and aims to have one 1 lakh EVs on road by 2022. Top officials said the government is earmarking Rs 798 crore in subsidies and tax waivers to promote the use of electric vehicles (EVs).

In July, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that India has put in place a game plan for electric vehicles and its components like batteries to ensure clean cities, reduce imports and utilise solar power. Adding that domestic battery manufacturing for electric vehicles provides a “massive market opportunity”, and also quickens the transition to such environment-friendly transport, which is vital for the country to help combat pollution, congestion, strengthen energy security and create jobs.

Himachal Pradesh has been in the news lately for sanctioning of multiple solar deals and tenders/ schemes. The state government on September 3, 2019, had signed two pacts for setting up two solar power plants worth 250 MW with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore.

And more recently, Himurja had announced its new program that seeks to deploy 28 MW solar energy projects in the state. The state has invited proposals from local entrepreneurs for setting up of the ground-mounted solar power projects with capacities ranging from 250 kW to 500 kW. The underlying objective of the program is that HPSEBL has to tie up for additional capacity of 20 MW to meet up Solar RPO, and the new scheme has been formulated to help achieve that target.