The Environment Ministry Replaces Officials’ Petrol Cars With Electric Vehicles

Following the directive of the Finance Ministry, the government bodies have gradually acquired electric vehicles for their officials. You would expect that the Environment Ministry would be the first to join in the transition. However, it was not until June 2 has the ministry made an acquisition for electric cars as according to a recent tweet.

It has been confirmed by the ministry sources that five electric cars have been acquired for trial. Among them, three have been assigned to be used for official duty by the ministry officials. The ministry has also set up charging stations within its campus.

The photos in the tweet show that electric cars are being charged. The officials that will use the three electric cars are the director general, the inspector general, and the joint secretary.

The ministry’s move comes amid the efforts of the government in bringing electric vehicles era to India. To encourage the use of EVs, in all of its departments, the government prioritizes electric cars over IC engine vehicles. Moreover, a total amount of Rs 2,500 crore has been given towards the deployment of 5,000 electric buses around the country.

Under the FAME-II scheme, the government also offered both buyers and EV manufacturers subsidies on electric vehicles, EV charging infrastructure as well as other similar incentives. With the hope to lower the cost of EVs even further, the government announced that it is planning to put no road tax on EVs.

While the country is trying to increase the country’s EV adoption, it comes as a surprise that it took the Environment Ministry such a long time to deploy these vehicles. Let’s hope that from now on, the Ministry will adapt to other environmentally friendly measures quicker.