The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has signed an agreement to deliver 15 electric vehicles (EVs) to the Department of Economic Affairs that comes under the Ministry of Finance.

With this development, the Ministry of Finance begins its transition towards a reduced carbon footprint and a more environmentally sustainable future, marking its participation in India’s e-mobility goal. Several stakeholders across the nation are already implementing various initiatives to support electric mobility with more expected to join the effort.

So far, 28 charging points (24 slow charging points, 4 fast charging points) have been installed in Delhi’s North Block for charging these vehicles. With these 15 EVs, the Department of Economic Affairs is expected to save over 36,000 liters of fuel every year and it will also lead to a reduction of over 440 tons of CO2 annually.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley, said, “Electric mobility, is an attractive, sustainable and profitable solution to mitigate the climate change and to reduce the risk posed by vehicular emission to public health. EVs have the potential to support India’s growth by enhancing manufacturing, job creation, and technical capabilities. We are glad to be a part of India’s mission of rapid adoption of e-mobility.”

Union Minister of State for Power and New and Renewable Energy, R.K. Singh said, “The Indian Government is committed to usher in an era of clean, green and future-oriented technologies in the country. Today, we have achieved yet another milestone in that direction. The Government is promoting e-mobility by taking a lead in changing the fleet of cars used for official purposes with electric cars and at the same time creating the right policy framework enabling this ecosystem and to support its adoption.”

The Department of Expenditure has also issued an office memorandum for all the government offices in the Delhi region to switch to EVs. Adoption of EVs will reduce dependence on oil imports and promote power capacity addition in India, thereby enhancing energy security of the country. It will further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector and also reduce the impact of pollution level in the cities.

India is now targeting the deployment of 5 million to 7 million electric vehicles across the country by 2020 under the revised NEMMP 2020 that was released in August 2018.

Recently, Mercom reported that electric vehicle sales so far have been inconsistent under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles (FAME) program. While some states have made good progress, many states are well behind in EV adoption.

In December 2018, with the goal to facilitate the widespread adoption of electric vehicles in the country, the Ministry of Power announced guidelines and standards for the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in India. Through these guidelines, the government aims to enable faster adoption of EVs, promote an affordable tariff rate, and support the development of EV charging business throughout the country.