Power Minister urges union ministers, CMs to convert official fleet to EVs

Union Minister for power and renewable energy R K Singh has urged all central government ministers and state chief ministers to convert their official vehicle fleet to electric cars as part of Centre’s effort to popularise green mobility in the country.

“As part of its efforts to promote electric vehicles in the country, the Union Minister of Power and new & renewable Energy has written to all the Union Ministers including the Minster of States (Independent Charge) and Chief Ministers of all the states/UTs to join the Government of India’s initiative on transformative mobility and advice their respective ministries/departments to convert their fleet of official vehicles from present Internal Combustion Engine (ICE)/petrol/diesel vehicles to electric vehicles for all official purposes,” the Power Ministry’s release dated August 27 read.

The minister said that such an action is expected to set an example for the general public and encourage them to switch over to E-Mobility. The initiative is part of the Centre’s ongoing GO ELECTRIC CAMPAIGN to promote Electric Vehicles and to meet multiple objectives – attaining goal of reduction in emission, energy security, energy efficiency.

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This comes in the run-up to United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP-26, to be held in Glasgow, and may help expedite India’s push for green mobility, with the EV prices expected to reach price parity with internal combustion engine vehicles before 2025.

The move holds significance given the large fleet of official vehicles used by central ministries and departments, and the state governments. The government has so far deployed a total of 1,590 electric cars in different govt departments across 49 cities. The letter comes on the back of UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which stated that extreme weather events will impact lives, livelihoods and businesses in India.