The two days witnessed several sessions which brought answers to several questions to the electrification of public transport as well as future mobility with electric vehicles. The workshop was able to bring several authorities from different verticals of EV – policymakers, manufacturers, operators, micro-mobility, etc., inclusive discussions helped to learn and unlearn about the technology and policies.
Dr. O P Aggarwal, CEO of WRI India chaired the summing up and valedictory function of the workshop. Vijay Nehra IAS, Commission of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation was the chief guest joined by Amit Bhatt, Program Director of Sustainable Transport and head of Electric Mobility Forum, Dr. Shalini Sinha of CEPT University in the concluding session. “A Guidance Document on Accelerating Electric Mobility in India” written by IIT Madras (CBEEV) & WRI India was released by Vijay Nehra IAS. The guidance document was written for Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, one of the major partner in WRI’s Electric Mobility Forum.
“Revenue risks on EV Public Transport will be taken by the Government and the private operators are not required to take any risks”, commented Mr. Nehra while interacting with the delegates. “We at the Municipal Corporation had several discussions on what kind of charging needs to be implemented – Flash, Swap or Fast Charging of the buses. We had discussions with Ashok Leyland, the manufacturer and they opted for Swap and Fast Charging,” he added. He urged to take experiments and for Janmarg, the entire experience helped to bring a sustainable solution of running 50 EV Buses in the city.
“This is a great opportunity for WRI India bringing all stakeholders into the Electric Vehicle ecosystem. A lot of people are working on the EV, but there needs to be a platform where the challenges can be discussed”, spoke Dr. O P Aggarwal about the event. Addressing the workshop, Amit Bhatt spoke “We need to talk about charging infrastructure at public level as well as individual level. Where parking and parking regulations need to addressed to charge the vehicle while it’s parked”.
The workshop discussed the EV policies developed in Kerala Government and Gujarat Government which was welcomed widely by the delegates. The workshop discussed battery ranges, which is still in a nascent stage given great insights. Inputs from OEMs like TATA Motors, Ashok Leyland and their experiences with RTCs were informative. Many states inducted the Ebuses but not able to operate due to the lack of charging infrastructure.
The visit to the two depots of Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited, the city operator of Public Transport brought a different visual experience to the delegates. Officials from Janmarg, Ashok Leyland and Sun Mobility explained the Battery Swap Technology and its operations at Ranip Depot, and Fast Charging Technology at the Navrangpura Depot with live demonstrations.
The workshop also discussed the concerns of Bus Manufacturers about the timely payments from the authorities which will help the speedy implementation of public projects. EV policy frameworks in each state can bring solutions to this issue along with other subsidies, concessions, etc. Lots of questions remained which the organizers informed will be carry forwarded in the future programs.