Government to set up charging kiosks at petrol pumps

The central government is planning to establish e-charging kiosks and infrastructure at as many as 69.000 petrol pumps across the nation. The move is aimed at expediting the uptake of electric vehicles. While addressing a virtual conference, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari stated that the government has undertaken multiple schemes with the view of encouraging the use of electric vehicles in the country. These steps include reducing the GST to 5% and making room for delinking the battery price of 2-3 wheelers from the cost of the vehicle, an expenditure that nearly accounted for 30% of the total cost. In a release, the Minister was quoted saying that the battery charging ecosystem is highly important. Acknowledging that fact, the government has laid down plans to set up a minimum of at least one e-charging kiosk for the benefit of electric vehicles at around 69,000 petrol pumps across India. The step is aimed at inducing people to opt for electric mobility, he added. The minister claimed that the country is all set on its path to become a hub of global automobile manufacturing, and urged the automobile industry to strive towards manufacturing flex engines that possess the versatility to utilise either petrol or ethanol / compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel.