Kerala will become the first State in the country to deploy electric vehicles (EVs) for enforcement activities.
The Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) has placed orders for ‘plug-in electric vehicles’ for 65 Enforcement Squads of ‘Safe Kerala’ for enforcing motor vehicles rules and to ensure road discipline.
The 65 EVs are being dry leased from the Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a Central government institution under Ministry of Power, through Agency for Non -Conventional Energy and Rural Technology (ANERT).
“The MVD is turning to be a role model in ushering green mobility. Going for EVs instead of fossil-fuelled vehicles will give a big push to e-mobility and curb spending on vehicle use. This is in tune with the government decision to all departments to hire EVs from April 1 instead of purchasing diesel vehicles. Work orders have been placed for 65 EVs,” Principal Secretary, Transport, K.R. Jyothilal told The Hindu.
The government has opted for the dry lease (car without chauffeurs) of Tata Nexon EV for eight years by payment of upfront cost. EV charging network will also come up in the State with charging stations set up in the 65 offices of the Enforcement Squads. As the vehicles run for 312 km in one charging, the exchequer can save considerable money as the per-km cost will be ₹1.
The government is yet to take a call on making available the charging stations to the public using EVs and on roping in home guards as the drivers for the EVs to be procured by the MVD. The maintenance of the 65 EVs will be taken care of by the EESL.
The EVs being procured will be customised for enforcement activities and all gadgets for monitoring motor vehicles like speed radars will be installed in it, Joint Transport Commissioner, Rajeev Puthalath has said. In addition to the driver, there will be one MVD officer in the day time and two in the night in these vehicles that will be on the roads round the clock, he adds.
MVD is the first to go for bulk EVs in the State as per the government decision not to purchase new vehicles. The government has already set an ambitious target of putting one million EVs on the road by 2022 in the State to usher in green mobility.