Gujarat government asks Ola, Uber to start Electric Vehicle services

Starting 2019 with environment-friendly energy, Gujarat has become the first state in India that has decided to actually take steps that promote sustainable development.

In its latest initiative, the state energy department led by Saurabh Patel is working on creating a policy that would actually provide the required infrastructure to run electric vehicles on a mass scale.

The government is also not shying away from giving everyone incentives to private companies to follow in on this initiative.

The Patel led department is meeting with private taxi runners like Ola and Uber to discuss the incentive scheme for running a fleet of EVs, and asking them to start EV services and participate in this drive.

The infrastructural facilities that the government is planning to provide include battery charging and swapping facilities at affordable prices.

The policy that is slated to be announced in the next few days is going to detail how the government plans to create a network of recharge stations. It is going to motivate people, in general, to promote recharge stations and give them incentives for the same.

In a conversation with TOI, Patel professes that batteries will be made available at these recharge stations within a few minutes just like refueling at any petrol pump takes place.

Not just this, the government itself is buying electric buses to cover the Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad route, and local bus services in Ahmedabad are also expected to provide EVs to the citizens as soon as recharge stations are up and running.

If the infrastructure is up and running, and there are suitable incentives for private cab aggregators and owners like Ola and Uber, this could become a great opportunity for them to further their own environmental contributions. Even when there is bound to be an initial investment involved, the consequences of these steps can be far more effective in the longer run.

Kudos to Gujarat government for following up intentions to become environment-friendly with a plan of action.