Niti Aayog may set electric vehicle target for state public transporters

The government is mulling over giving target to state public transporters to deploy certain percentage of electric vehicles in their new orders, while it will refrain from coming out with a policy on electric vehicles, a top Niti Aayog official said. Moreover, the official said for the personal transportation, the Aayog is of the view that the market forces should be allowed to decide whether people want to buy electric car or diesel/petrol car.

"We may like to tell states that their carbon footprints must be minimised. We are considering of giving some targets to state public transporters to deploy certain percentage of electric vehicles in their new orders," the official told PTI. He further added that,"We don't need a policy on electric vehicles, we need a behavioral change".

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The official also said that the government wants to encourage indigenous production of electric vehicles. As per an estimate, India at present has 1 to 1.5 lakh electric vehicles and it is projected to grow to about 5 per cent of the total vehicles in the next five years. Of the about 24 million vehicles sold in India in 2017-18, electric vehicles accounted for barely about 1 per cent.