EESL to invest Rs 2,400 crore to buy 20,000 cars by March 2019
A representative of state-run Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) has told the press yesterday the agency plans to invest Rs 2,400 crore by March 2019 to procure a total of 20,000 electric cars. The company is also likely to sign memorandum of understandings (MoUs) to supply 1,000 and 8,000 electric vehicles to the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat respectively.
The company floated a tender last month for the 10,000 additional cars and the firm has also signed a MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government to supply 10,000 cars last month, having already floated another tender for this. Further, the EESL has floated another tender for 2,500 more charging stations across the country, in addition to the 250 already being set up in Delhi.
EESL's recent order of 10,000 cars is another positive step in the growth of electric mobility in the country
This second tender comes after the first one for 10,000 EVs that the EESL has floated last year. These were for government use and were to be delivered in two phases with 500 having already being delivered and the rest in some time. The tender was won by Tata Motors, and Mahindra & Mahindra later matched the winning bid price. Consequently, the first batch of Tigor electric sedans was delivered by Tata Motors on December 14, 2017, and Mahindra delivered its first e-Verito sedans on November 15, 2017.
These 20,000 electric cars will help the EESL reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 5.6 lakh tonnes annually and save over 5 crore litres of fuel every year. EESL is a joint venture of four other public sector units-NTPC, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and PowerGrid Corporation.
