Here’s a first in India — Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) officials will soon be travelling in electric cars during work hours. It is in the process of hiring 15 electric cars on lease by next week.
The cars will be hired from Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which is a joint venture of four national public sector enterprises — NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation Limited, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.
The GMDA office presently has 15 vehicles on rent.
CEO GMDA V Umashankar said, “We are hiring 15 electric cars on lease. The fleet of e-cars will be part of the GMDA office in Sector 32. The electric cars can run on diesel and petrol in emergency. Charging stations are being built at four different locations in the city.”
The charging stations will be located at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, office of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), rest houses of HUDA in Sector 15, and Sector 29.
The GMDA officials, including the CEO, additional CEOs and others, will use electric vehicles for local travelling.
To reduce the negative impact of petrol and diesel on environment, NITI Aayog — set up in 2015 — had kick-started a pilot project next year in support of the electrification of India’s automobile industry by setting up 135 electric vehicle charging stations in Delhi and NCR.
NITI Aayog stands for National Institution for Transforming India and is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
