SBI, Wipro join electric vehicle initiative to accelerate faster roll-out globally

Software firm Wipro and State Bank of India (SBI) have joined an initiative to accelerate the electric vehicle drive globally.

In association with The Climate Group's, global electric vehicles initiative, EV100, both the firms have committed to transitioning their respective global fleets into e-vehicle by 2030.

While Wipro will begin rolling out in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, SBI will establish charging stations in major residential spaces to support the electric vehicle ecosystem. Wipro has already leased around 50 electric vehicles in Hyderabad and New Delhi.

Presence of both firms, who have leadership on electric vehicles, will send a strong demand signal to the market in India and beyond. More companies should follow their lead as it will help boosting low-carbon economic development," said Jarnail Singh, The Climate Group India, Director in a statement.

Wipro plans to involve nearly 2000 vehicles in India before addressing international markets. Moreover, the company also expects to scale up the use of electric vehicles to 500 in the next three years and 1,000 by 2023.

SBI believes EV100 is destined to transform global markets and policies, and would leverage innovation to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. SBI has a network of more than 22,000 branches across India and 206 overseas offices spread over 35 countries.

Through EV100, leading businesses can help increase demand for EVs and improve the availability of charging infrastructure – currently a significant barrier to EV adoption in India. Together, this will accelerate a much-needed shift in the market, bringing down costs to make EVs more accessible for all.

The anuancement was made at an event that was attended by CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant.

We had joint launch of @WBCSD's #REmobility and @ClimateGroup's EV100 today morning in Delhi, India. Keynote by Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, @NITIAayog. The event was attended by #India's EV value chain and several corporate customers looking to adopt electric fleets. pic.twitter.com/ApSevaK4VG

— Jasmeet Khurana (@jasmeetkhurana) April 11, 2018

@EESL_India commited to transition GoI fleet to 100% electric soon. That would mean whopping 3-4 GWh of storage capacity every year and that's just the start! Ongoing #EV100 panel pic.twitter.com/2Ravs4PZfm

— Jarnail Singh (@jarnail2015) April 11, 2018

This will add to the India e-vehicle programme, where the government has already committed to make e-transition by 2030.

In September last year, Gadkari also announced that Delhi roads may see the electric bike in the coming months. As per the report, the govt was engaged in initial talks with SoftBank for loans at the low-interest rate for a green project.

On the lines of his initial commitments, the minister said plans are afoot to gradually convert transport to electric, ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel, bio CNG and other such means.

For public transport, electric buses will be promoted and using supercapacitor technology, a charged bus can run for 36 km and will be charged in 3 minutes.