Govt to build 6,000 km of EV-ready highways by 2030

The government has proposed to build 6,000 km of highways that are ready for electric mobility over the next seven years, as part of the proposed Vision 2030 PM Public Transport Sewa projects.

The development of e-highways embedded with EV charging infrastructure will help stimulate the adoption of electric mobility on a larger scale, further promoting the use of electric cars.

This is part of the government’s efforts to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and vehicular emissions.

The Golden Quadrilateral that connects the four major industrial cities of Delhi (north), Kolkata (east), Mumbai (west) and Chennai (south) forms the country’s largest national highway network and electrification of these routes will greatly contribute to the government’s efforts at decarbonisation of economic growth.

Under the PM Public Transport Sewa, the government proposes to deploy deploy 2,00,000 electric buses for state transport undertakings, 5,50,000 for private operators, and 50,000 for schools and employee transportation to replace 800,000 diesel buses over the next seven years. 

While electric mobility comes as a big boon to polluted cities and towns in the country, road trips using electric vehicles (EVs) often become a stressful experience, especially with EVs with low range.

To support the expansion of EV charging infrastructure, the government has been taking up various initiatives. As of March 2023, there were around 6,586 public EV charging hubs in India, with 419 stations operational on the National Highway. However, this is not enough to sustain the growth of e-mobility.

To support e-mobility, it is crucial that EV charging stations are available in urban, suburban, and remote areas.

These hubs should offer quick charging facility, with multiple payment options and additional amenities such as dining space and clean toilets, so as to make longer trips on EVs comfortable to the larger public.