In the list of states having most e-vehicles, Karnataka comes third with 31,000 vehicles while Uttar Pradesh and Delhi top the charts, with 1.39 lakh and 75,600 vehicles respectively
Bengaluru: Electric vehicles or e-vehicles or battery-driven vehicles provide the much-needed relief from massive pollution levels. Experts feel it is the way forward to curb pollution.
Interestingly, Karnataka ranks third among the number or e-vehicles a state has. First on the list is Uttar Pradesh, followed by Delhi.
In the entire country, the population of e-vehicles is nearly 4 lakh. Almost half of these vehicles are in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, as per statistics available with the road Union transport ministry.
E-rickshaws and e-carts dominate the e-vehicle population which got legal status after the Parliament passed a law in March 2015.
Uttar Pradesh has 1.39 lakh registered vehicles followed by Delhi, which has 75,600 e-vehicles. Karnataka has the third highest number, with 31,000 e-vehicles.
Assam too has a high number of e-vehicles, outnumbering many of the southern and western states.
But the number quoted by the ministry concerned could be far less than the number of e-vehicles on the roads because many of these e-vehicles have not been registered.
In August 2016, the ministry had exempted these vehicles from obtaining commercial permits to carry passengers or goods. This, sources say was done keeping in mind the affordability factor for last-mile connectivity in both cities and rural areas.
Not just this, in October 2018, the transport ministry had come up with a notification that battery-operated commercial vehicles and those running on ethanol and methanol don’t need permits.
Transport minister Nitin Gadkari has also said that his ministry has proposed exemption of registration fee for these vehicles. But he has sought opinions from other stakeholders in this regard.
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