Mention
Ola Electric ropes in General Motors’ Jamie Ardila on its boardedit
Ola Electric, Bengaluru-based ride-hailing unicorn Ola’s electric vehicle entity, has announced that it has appointed Jaime Ardila as a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Jamie has spent 30 years at General Motors, where he has been a part of several leadership roles across the globe.
Industry
EESL, BSNL in 10-year pact for e-charging stations in Punjabedit
Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) has entered into an agreement with BSNL to install 100 electric cars public charging stations in Punjab. Both EESL and BSNL have entered into this 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the objective of building electric vehicle infrastructure in BSNL, Punjab Telecom Circle area and explore synergy for further promoting EVs, including electric two-wheelers in the state, an official statement said.
Madhya Pradesh rolls out big electric vehicle plan: Free registration, parking space and moreedit
Every state in India is quietly (some do make a noise about it) working towards electrification of their automobiles. Every other day, you hear about automakers or those in the power declare some new initiative for a particular state, if not the country. We recently happened to stumble across the Madhya Pradesh government’s EV policy. It is actually one of the policies that is very much customer friendly. The intricacies discussed in the policy are sure to endear it to the masses.
West Bengal sets 2030 deadline for e-vehicle revolutionedit
The transport department has prepared a roadmap for shifting to electric mode in the public transportation sector of Kolkata. Echoing mayor Firhad Hakim’s statement at C40 World Mayors’ Summit in Copenhagen, transport secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam said: “Our plan is to completely shift to electric mode by 2030. We already have our tram network and a formidable metro network across the city is also coming up soon.”
‘OEMs need to be more open and friendly in deal-making with fleet owners to promote electric vehicles’edit
The central government is aligning its policies in sync with its aim to steadfast the adoption of electric vehicles in India. However, to achieve a respectable milestone in relation to electric mobility, our country needs to overcome a plethora of hurdles related to infrastructure, ease of usability, costs, comparable products among others.
EVs the answer to India’s pollution, safety problems’edit
India could be racing towards becoming the third largest automobile market in the world; but it is also where 15 of the 20 most polluted cities, globally, are housed. Though 19 of every 1,000 people in the country own a car today, it faces an acute problem of congestion and reports a road accident death every four seconds.
Auto sales down for 11 months in a row, finance minister promises more stepsedit
The pain of auto sector continued for the 11th straight month, despite the onset of the festival season as overall sales declined 22.4%, heaping more pressure on a sector that is reeling from the impact of a demand slowdown. The auto industry, however, said there were early signs of some improvement and the full festival season – along with discounts and measures announced by the government – will help improve sentiment in the segment.
Passenger vehicle exports up 4 per cent in April-September; Hyundai leads the packedit
Passenger vehicle (PV) exports increased by over 4 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal, with Hyundai Motor India leading the segment with dispatches of over 1.03 lakh units to various geographies like Africa and Latin America, as per the latest data by SIAM. PV exports stood at 3,65,282 units in April-September period of the current fiscal as compared with 3,49,951 units in the same period of 2018-19.
Opinion | For lithium ion batteries to pave the way for a rechargeable Indiaedit
Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino as this year’s Chemistry laureates, uses lithium-ion batteries. While the Academy gave in to a little hyperbole when it declared “they created a rechargeable world”, it was nevertheless on the mark in saying that “lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991.
Karnataka boards the bus for EV journey; 112 charging points by October-end, Rs 1 lakh subsidy for electric autosedit
Two years after the government introduced an e-vehicle policy to promote battery-run vehicles, the state is finally setting up the infrastructure required. It is also pushing to convert existing autorickshaws to go electric. While Bescom’s 112 charging points will be operational by this month-end, BMTC has identified four depots to set up charging points for its proposed 300 battery-run buses.
Centre should pay renewable energy producers in state, says AP ministeredit
The central government should constitute a committee headed by the Union power secretary, along with the secretary to the ministry of new and renewable energy, the principal secretary finance and the secretary to the energy department of Andhra Pradesh government to find a “long-term” solution to the problem of paying the producers of renewable energy in the state, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, the AP minister for energy, said in a letter to Union power minister RK Singh.
Auto retail sales up 6.5% in Septemberedit
Passenger vehicles witnessed an increase of 8 per cent to 253,012 units in September 2019 as against 234,304 units in the month under review last year. “The festive season, measures announced by the government and high discounts have enabled sales growth, and helped in improving buyer sentiment in general,” said Rajan Wadhera, president, SIAM.
Competition
Bajaj Chetak Electric Scooter To Launch In Phased Manneredit
Bajaj Auto’s first electric scooter that will be come under the Urbanite sub brand will be launched in a phased manner across the nation. In the first phase of operations, the new e-scooter from the home-grown two-wheeler maker will be retailed in Bengaluru and Pune. While Bengaluru has a decent charging infrastructure, Pune is the company’s headquarter. The report further says that the Pune-based two-wheeler manufacturer will setup charging stations at every customer’s home. Such personal charging service will be a slightly costlier affair.