State to hire 50 EVs for use by various depts and offices

Panaji: Goa energy development agency (GEDA) on Thursday said it will hire 50 electric vehicles (EVs) worth a total of Rs 3.5 crore for different government departments. The EVs will be hired for a period of five years and the contract will be extendable for further two years.
GEDA will soon invite an expression of interest (EoI) for the hire of EVs for fleet size up to 50 of which 15 EVs will be hired with drivers and 35 EVs without drivers. The agency will empanel a pool of authorised EV operators who have permits/licences issued by the transport department. The operators will have to either own the vehicles or have access to vehicles sourced from the open market for hire.
A senior officer said that the EVs empanelled under the contract can be assigned to any government department or agency/corporation etc. The official also said that the government wants to engage more EVs to reduce the carbon emission in the state. The state has already hired EVs for departments and with this new initiative it will increase the number of its EV fleet.
“The empanelled operator shall not refuse to serve any government office, department, agency and corporation under any circumstances, anywhere in Goa. The vehicle may also be taken out of the state on official duty and the road tax and other toll charges as applicable will be reimbursed by the department concerned as applicable in case of outstation journey,” the official said.