Tata Motors Pushes For Better EV Charging Network Ahead of Union Budget

Tata Motors on Wednesday said it is expecting policy continuity in the forthcoming Union Budget and also said that there is a need for more players in the charging infra space for faster adoption of electric mobility in the country.

The new NDA government at the Centre is likely to present the Union Budget next month.

The Central Government has been presenting the Union Budget on February 1 in recent years. However, in February this year, the government could only present an interim Budget due to 2024 being the election year.

“So, as far as the budget expectation is concerned, the government has been very crystal clear and supportive of accelerated penetration of electric mobility in the country. We have the entire schemes such as GST and PLI, among others.

“So what we would expect (in the Union Budget) is that the policy continues till this (electric vehicle) industry becomes self-sufficient,” Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Managing Director Shailesh Chandra told reporters here.

It (the policy) should also continue till 15-20 per cent penetration level is reached in the electric vehicle space, he said, and added that there should be a stronger focus on policy support towards charging infrastructure, which is one of the ” barriers” for electric vehicle penetration.

He said that oil marketing companies have been given subsidies for installing 2000 chargers in the next 18 months or so, and emphasized that there can be more private participation in this space.

“We need more and more players, more professionally managed to lead this journey. We should remove the bottlenecks which are there to install chargers from the community level or even to get access to connections from Discoms while installing a public charger,” Chandra added.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)