In a big step towards clean energy, the UT administration is ready to begin replacing its official fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles.
UT consultant Dharam Pal confirmed the development and said: “In all departments we only want to buy electric vehicles from here and all convicted vehicles will also be replaced by electric vehicles.”
When looking for electric vehicles for the city, Pal said: “The city is small. E-vehicles can serve our purpose very well. In fact, electric vehicles are designed for a city like Chandigarh. “
Pal has already directed the finance department to provide other departments with the necessary instructions on the matter. The UT engineering department was also commissioned to examine the need for the necessary infrastructure for e-vehicles.
“I have already had discussions with the engineering and finance departments on this subject. They check what infrastructure is required to underpin the decision. It will require charging systems in all government offices, “Pal said.
The introduction of electric vehicles into the UT’s official vehicle fleet is part of Pal’s focus on improving mobility within the city. “The connectivity problems between cities would take time and be fraught with problems of intergovernmental coordination. I don’t focus too much on outlying cities. I’m just looking at the needs within the city, ”said Pal.
Above all, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had advocated at the beginning of this year that all officials in ministries and ministries should make the use of electric vehicles compulsory.
20% are to be replaced in the next three years
Debendra Dalai, Chief Executive Officer of Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology (CREST), said: “We plan to replace 20% of the current official vehicle fleet with electric vehicles over the next three to four years. For official use in the city, electric vehicles are the best option. That benefits the environment and the administration saves enormous amounts of operating and maintenance costs. “
The department currently has nine such vehicles, including e-cars and e-scooters. “The cost of operating an e-car is around ₹0.50 per km. At the same time, a gasoline engine costs around ₹10 per km, which mainly includes maintenance and fuel costs. The electric vehicles only need to charge the battery and the vehicle itself does not incur high maintenance costs, ”said Dalai.
Infrastructure available in the city
To improve the charging infrastructure in the city, CREST is also planning an additional number of charging stations in the city. “We currently have nine points with 48 charging stations in the city. These are slow chargers. We are also planning fast chargers at the same nine points, ”said Dalai.
The UT’s traffic department plans to replace its entire fleet of around 360 local buses with electric buses. 40 buses have already been procured. The prototype of the bus will be added to the fleet by August 15th. All of these 40 e-buses will be added by October this year. The transport department has also started procuring another batch of 40 e-buses.
