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No deadline for shift to EVs: Gadkari

Date:	22 Aug 2019

Source:	The Economic Times

Reporter:	Nishtha Saluja

News ID:	42549

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NEW DELHI: In what may come as a breather for the automobile sector, the transport ministry will not set any deadline for transition to electric vehicles, Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said.

Responding to a question on the Niti Aayog’s draft guidelines that set a timeline for phasing out ICE-vehicles and transitioning to electric vehicles, Gadkari said that his ministry has not proposed any deadline for the same.

“We will not set any deadline for electric mobility. You see a lot of State governments are procuring electric buses, the transition will happen as a natural process,” Gadkari said on the sidelines of a press meet here on Wednesday.

A government official ET spoke to said that the ministry of road transport and highways is not looking at imposing any deadline for phasing over diesel-run vehicles.

In June this year, a steering committee headed by NITI Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant has in its report laid out a roadmap for the smooth roll-out of electric vehicles in a phased manner, as well as the setting up of battery manufacturing factories to bring down the costs of EVs.

This panel had drawn up an extensive plan for replacement of various categories of vehicles by EVs in certain time frames. As per it, all three-wheelers and all two-wheelers below 150cc will need to go electric by 2023 and 2025, respectively.

Gadkari on previous occasions had said that he will call a stakeholders’ consultation before setting any deadlines for transition to electric vehicles in the country. ET had reported the same on June 7.

The auto sector in the country is witnessing its worst slowdown in the last two decades. The auto industry has been lobbying against policy measures meant to disincentivise petrol and diesel-run vehicles in the country.

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