Thiruvananthapuram: All government offices in Kerala will rent electric cars (e-cars) to completely eliminate the use of fuel-based cars.
As part of the carbon neutral governance project, 50 e-cars will be given on lease to seven government offices in the first week of November. ANERT (Agency for Non-conventional Energy and Rural Technology) is the nodal agency for the project.
In April, the Finance Ministry had ordered that only e-cars be hired on a contract basis instead of petrol-diesel cars in government departments.
The e-cars will be provided by Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a company under the central government. E-cars have been rented to six offices of ANERT on a trial basis. 65 government agencies have approached ANERT for the project. If an application is made, ANERT will deliver the e-cars within 20 days.
Registrations have started for setting up public charging stations near national and state highways for charging e-cars. Those with a basic area of 1,000 square feet will be considered for registration.
Charging stations
The aim is to have a charging station every 100 km. It takes 15 minutes to an hour to charge an e-car. For registration, preference will be given to those who can invest between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh. Where government land is available, ANERT will set up charging stations at its own expense.
Rental costs will more than halve
ANERT will receive a service charge of 2% for renting the cars. Tata Tigor electric, Tata Nexon electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) and Hyundai Kona electric SUV will be the vehicles provided.
The vehicles cost between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 25 lakh. The monthly rental for Tata Tigor electric will be Rs 22,950, while it will be Rs 27,540 for Tata Nexon electric SUV and Rs 42,840 for Hyundai Kona electric SUV. ANERT will pay the insurance amount.
It is hoped that the government will be able to reduce the vehicle rental cost by more than half by using electric cars.
