Goa’s Minister of Power, Environment, and New & Renewable Energy Nilesh Cabral emphasized the importance of ushering in electric two-wheelers in Goa. He also highlighted other electric mobility initiatives as part of the larger initiative by the government of India.

According to Cabral, the clean mobility program will be applicable for the first 10,000 electric two-wheelers sold in the state, which will reduce 5,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions every year and remove 10% of the polluting vehicles off Goa’s roads.

The program is implemented by Convergence Energy Services Limited(CESL), which is also working on making solar power chargers for these two-wheelers. A 100% owned subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) – CCESL is a new energy company focused on delivering clean, affordable, and reliable energy.

Cabral said, “Goa is a biker’s destination. We have close to a million two-wheelers in Goa, comprising almost 70% of the state’s vehicle population. These will be converted into electric two-wheelers or e-Bikes by CESL. As these e-Bikes run purely on electricity, they do not cause emissions and are therefore environmentally friendly.”

The electric two-wheeler will take 3-4 hours to get fully charged and run 100 km on a single charge. The state government is also installing easily accessible public charging stations throughout the state of Goa.

This month, Tata Motors partnered with the Department of New and Renewable Energy to deploy its electric vehicles in Goa as a part of its tender with EESL. In July 2020, EESL floated the tender to procure 250 electric cars. Tata Motors and Hyundai Motors won the tender to supply 150 units and 100 electric sports utility vehicles, respectively.

The Goa government is working on making it easier for people to switch to electric vehicles by offering a host of subsidies and incentives, which include:

• Cash incentive/buyback program, similar to cell phone exchange plans where cell phone companies incentivize users to hand in their old phone and buy a new one
• No registration charges, leading to an immediate 5% reduction in the electric vehicle (EV) cost
• A subsidy that helps buyers access an affordable lease
• An incentive to scrap old vehicles, as announced by the Union Finance Minister in her recent budget speech

So far, three high-capacity combo EV chargers of 122-150kW, Type 2 AC standards have been installed in Goa, charging long-range EVs such as Hyundai Kona, Tata Nexon, and Maurice Garage (MG).

Installation of Bharat Standard DC001 EV chargers is being planned adjacent to these existing chargers for recharging moderate-range EVs such as Tata Tigor and Mahindra e-Verito. These installations will be completed in February.

CESL has been at the helm of EV ecosystem development in India, undertaking demand aggregation for procuring EVs, supporting the transition in bringing innovative business models, and providing the implementation wherewithal for accelerated roll-out of EV charging units.

Mahua Acharya, the CEO and managing director of CESL said, “EVs are at the forefront of the global agenda to move towards a sustainable future, and CESL is leading several initiatives in India to promote faster EV adoption under the national e-mobility program.”

In December 2020, Cabral had inaugurated the first pilot convergence project with a capacity of 1 MW, which integrates the delivery of decentralized clean energy with energy-efficient pump sets and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps for rural homes in the state. The 100 MW project would be implemented by CESL. Approximately 400,000 households will benefit from this project, and 140,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions will be avoided.

Rahul is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Before entering the world of renewables, Rahul was head of the Gujarat bureau for The Quint. He has also worked for DNA Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad Mirror. Hailing from a banking and finance background, Rahul has also worked for JP Morgan Chase and State Bank of India. More articles from Rahul Nair.