NEW DELHI: Government plans to provide subsidy for setting up battery swapping stations to ensure those undertaking long-distance travel don't have to spend time charging batteries of their electric vehicles , including buses and trucks, and can quickly resume their journey. People can swap batteries - exchanging discharged batteries with charged ones - at these centres by paying an amount.
To begin with, the upstream subsidy for battery swapping stations is likely to be provided for setting up facilities for electric buses, trucks, two wheelers and three wheelers, sources said. Swapping of batteries of cars will take time as the standards for this have not been notified yet.
The issue of setting up the stations was discussed at length last week by officials from Prime Minister's Office and ministries concerned.
The proposal comes at a time when the share of electric vehicles (EVs) in all registered vehicles in 2024-25 increased to 7.3% from barely 0.01% in 2014-15. As per govt data, around 56.8 lakh EVs are registered in the country and the numbers are going to grow considering the govt's big push for green vehicles .
The plan also gains significance considering that the govt has identified 61 national highways corridors - totalling 25,639km - for setting up public charging stations at every 100km on both sides for buses and trucks, and at every 20 km on both sides for cars.
Officials said battery swapping stations can either be co-located with EV public charging stations or be standalones. "The details of subsidies that can be provided would be worked out. Setting up battery swapping stations will be a big boost for operating more electric buses and trucks on long routes as these will meet their requirement," one of them said.
Once the battery swapping protocol for cars is in place, it will revolutionalise EV penetration in the country.
Some of the highway stretches put on the priority list for creating battery charging facilities include Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur, Bangalore-Mumbai, Coimbatore-Bangalore, Goa-Pune, Chennai-Bangalore, Kochi-Kanyakumari, Prayagraj-Patna, Guwahati-Jorhat and Kharagpur-Visakhapatnam.
To begin with, the upstream subsidy for battery swapping stations is likely to be provided for setting up facilities for electric buses, trucks, two wheelers and three wheelers, sources said. Swapping of batteries of cars will take time as the standards for this have not been notified yet.
The issue of setting up the stations was discussed at length last week by officials from Prime Minister's Office and ministries concerned.
The proposal comes at a time when the share of electric vehicles (EVs) in all registered vehicles in 2024-25 increased to 7.3% from barely 0.01% in 2014-15. As per govt data, around 56.8 lakh EVs are registered in the country and the numbers are going to grow considering the govt's big push for green vehicles .
The plan also gains significance considering that the govt has identified 61 national highways corridors - totalling 25,639km - for setting up public charging stations at every 100km on both sides for buses and trucks, and at every 20 km on both sides for cars.
Officials said battery swapping stations can either be co-located with EV public charging stations or be standalones. "The details of subsidies that can be provided would be worked out. Setting up battery swapping stations will be a big boost for operating more electric buses and trucks on long routes as these will meet their requirement," one of them said.
Once the battery swapping protocol for cars is in place, it will revolutionalise EV penetration in the country.
Some of the highway stretches put on the priority list for creating battery charging facilities include Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur, Bangalore-Mumbai, Coimbatore-Bangalore, Goa-Pune, Chennai-Bangalore, Kochi-Kanyakumari, Prayagraj-Patna, Guwahati-Jorhat and Kharagpur-Visakhapatnam.
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Perishers - 29th April 2025
