Bengaluru: To encourage e-mobility, the Government of Karnataka aims to replace 50 percent of all Government vehicles with Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the coming 2-3 years, said Deputy Chief Minister Dr. C.N. Ashwathnarayan.

Participating in a panel discussion on “Future of sustainable mobility”, which was held as part of ‘Harvard-India Conference’ here yesterday, he said the State was looking forward to partnerships and concrete strategies with USA in the e-mobility sector. 

Charging points

Dr. Ashwathnarayan, who is also IT&BT Minister, said regulatory measures would be taken to make setting up of charging infrastructure in high-rise buildings, metro stations, malls, IT parks and apartments. The goal was also to set up fast chargers along a few important Highways in the State like Bengaluru-Chennai, Bengaluru-Mysuru and to establish the World-Class Karnataka Electric Mobility Research & Innovation Centre.

 Lack of charging infrastructure still remains as a major concern and the State is working towards improving the situation. The Government also has assessed the situation and has received feedback from citizens regarding discounted charging at public places, dedicated parking for e-cabs, and mandating EV charging facility in building bye-laws to improve the EV infra in the State, he added.

Power surplus nation

The Deputy CM said India has been a power surplus country and was currently witnessing lower plant load factors due to minor capacity utilisation. As per the estimates, demand from electric vehicles (EV) could greatly improve the utilisation factor of underutilised power plants. The Central Government had been supporting the electric mobility efforts in the country through funding research, providing a conducive platform for design, development, and demonstration of EV projects. The countries like Norway, USA and China could become examples for India in developing the e-mobility ecosystem in Karnataka, he opined.

He said the State has been able to garner a share of over 30 percent market size and was planning its policy framework to garner a 50 percent market share of the Digital Engineering Innovation Economy segments like Clean Tech, Electric Vehicle, Aerospace, Med-Tech, construction, etc., offer significant opportunities for growth.

Anita George, Executive Vice-President, and Deputy Head, CDPQ Global, Vignesh Nandakumar, Clean Tech Investor, were two other panellists who participated in the discussion.