J&K to see major EV focus: Union Minister
Union minister for heavy industries Mahendra Nath Pandey, on Tuesday said that government has decided to expand the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle (FAME) scheme to more states in the second phase and there will be a special focus on Jammu and Kashmir with the roll-out of electric buses in the state.
“So far, we have taken bigger cities into account but now we will go to smaller cities and accordingly have expanded the scheme to cover the states of Himachal Pradesh and Assam. We have also been targeting larger cities that have high level of pollution like Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi (for supplying electric buses under FAME). Now, seeing the special nature and requirement of Jammu and Kashmir, we are expanding FAME coverage there,” he said in an interview.
Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir constituted a committee for formulation of a comprehensive Electric Vehicle Policy for the Union Territory of J&K.
The committee tasked to analyze scope of incentives as may be granted for ownership of electric vehicles, including conversion of existing commercial fleets into electric setup.
Moreover, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Tata Motors announced that it has won the tender of 200 electric buses floated by Jammu Smart City Limited, for Jammu and Srinagar.
For the deployment of the 200 electric buses, Tata Motors has entered into a strategic collaboration in the twin capital cities of the Jammu and Kashmir regions. The purchase of 150 units of 9-metre and 50 units of 12-metre Starbus electric buses has been enabled as part of an initiative of Housing and Urban Development Department from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir’s initiative for environmentally friendly public transportation.
The 12-metre model, though not described as the company revealed this most recent order, is likely to be the Tata Starbus EV that Tata Motors introduced in 2020. This model offers space for 35 passengers and has air suspension at the front and rear. The electric motor has an output of 245 kW. The battery pack is supposed to come to around 250 kWh but is also supposed to be scalable according to range requirements. For the 9-metre electric bus, no data was given, but this bus is pictured in the photo above.
As part of the contract, Tata Motors will supply, operate and maintain Tata Starbus electric buses for a period of 12 years. Tata Motors says that its electric buses have been in Jammu & Kashmir since 2019 when the company delivered 40 units.
