Pimpri-Chinchwad Admin Releases Plan To Increase EV Adoption

Electric Vehicle cell of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), released the ‘Pimpri-Chinchwad City Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan’ on Wednesday, which proposes nine actionable solutions to transform the urban mobility landscape and further accelerate the EV transition of Pimpri-Chinchwad’s. This region lies at the periphery of Pune in Maharashtra.  

The plan created with the technical support from RMI-India (founded as Rocky Mountain Institute), sets an ambitious target of 30 per cent EV penetration by 2026.

During the City EV Accelerator workshop organized by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in February this year, over 100 stakeholders came together to propose solutions focused on various aspects of electric vehicle (EV) adoption. These solutions encompass EV charging and battery swapping infrastructure, EV operations within the city, electrification of public transport, and the manufacturing of EV components. Termed as the EV Readiness Plan, it outlines a set of targets and city-level initiatives that both the public and private sectors will undertake to transform the city into an EV-ready environment in the near future.

Sachindra Pratap Singh, the Chairman and Managing Director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), expressed pride in Pimpri Chinchwad’s progress in electrifying its bus fleet. Currently, the city boasts more than 450 electric buses, constituting over 20 per cent of the total fleet. Moreover, the PMPML aims to further enhance this initiative by adding 150 more electric buses to the fleet by the end of the year. Once achieved, Pimpri Chinchwad is set to become the first city in Maharashtra to reach the policy target of electrifying 25 per cent of its public transport fleet, he noted. 

PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh said, “Achieving the plan’s proposed target of making EVs contribute to 30 per cent of new vehicle registrations by 2026 has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 0.8 million tonnes over the lifetime of the deployed vehicles in the city limits. With such rapid adoption of EVs, we can accelerate the process of urban mobility decarbonisation and make our city more sustainable.”

Akshima Ghate, Managing Director (MD) of RMI’s India Program, during her remarks, said, “Constituting an EV cell to serve as a centralised and structured governance body towards developing this EV readiness plan shows PCMC’s commitment towards shaping the urban mobility system towards a low-emissions trajectory. We are fortunate to be a part of this journey and look forward to supporting Pimpri Chinchwad’s EV transition.”

Currently, EVs represent over 10 per cent of new vehicle registrations in Pimpri Chinchwad. The Municipal Corporation is endeavouring to bring Pimpri Chinchwad to the forefront of EV adoption by committing to the targets set by the Maharashtra EV Policy, establishing a city-level governance structure for EVs, and creating a contextual, quantitative, and regularly monitored EV readiness plan. Maharashtra announced its EV Policy in 2021 intended to make the state the top EV producer by 2025.