Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation launches EV readiness plan : 100 charging points to be set up by 2023
Pimpri: Electric Vehicle cell of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), released the ‘Pimpri Chinchwad City Electric Vehicle Readiness Plan’ on Wednesday, which proposes nine actionable solutions to transform the urban mobility landscape and further accelerate Pimpri Chinchwad’s EV transition.
The plan created with technical support from RMI (founded as Rocky Mountain Institute), sets an ambitious target of 30% EV penetration by 2026.
These actionable solutions mainly deal with EV charging and battery swapping infrastructure, EV operations in the city, Public transport electrification and EV component manufacturing. These were generated by over 100 stakeholders during the City EV Accelerator workshop hosted by the PCMC earlier this year in February. The EV Readiness Plan is a set of targets and city-level initiatives that the public and private sectors will undertake to realise the components of an EV-ready city in the near term.
The launch event was organized in the standing committee hall of PCMC. On this occasion, Chairman and Managing Director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), Sachindra Pratap Singh, PCMC Commissioner Shekhar Singh, Managing Director of RMI India Akshima Ghate, PCMC Additional Commissioner Vijaykumar Khorate and Ulhas Jagtap, City Engineer Makarand Nikam, Chief Information and Technology Officer Nilkanth Poman, Joint City Engineer Sanjay Kulkarni, Babasaheb Galbale, and Deputy Commissioner Ravikiran Ghodke along with representatives from Pune Municipal Corporation, MSEDCL, PMPML, and Maha Metro representatives were present.
Sachindra Pratap Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), said, “PMPML has already set an example for other cities in India by rapidly electrifying our bus fleet. Currently, we have more than 450 electric buses operational in our fleet, which is more than 20% of our total fleet. An additional 150 buses are expected to join our fleet by the end of this year, which will make us the first city in Maharashtra to achieve the policy target of electrifying 25% of the public transport fleet. Safety of the charging stations, amid a rising fleet, has remained our top priority.”
PCMC Commissioner Shri Shekhar Singh said, “Achieving the plan’s proposed target of making EVs contribute to 30% of new vehicle registrations by 2026 has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 0.8 million tonnes over the lifetime of the deployed vehicles in the city limits. With such rapid adoption of EVs, we can accelerate the process of urban mobility decarbonisation and make our city more sustainable.”
Akshima Ghate, Managing Director of RMI’s India Program, during her remarks, said, “Constituting an EV cell to serve as a centralised and structured governance body towards developing this EV readiness plan shows PCMC’s commitment towards shaping the urban mobility system towards a low-emissions trajectory. We are fortunate to be a part of this journey and look forward to supporting Pimpri Chinchwad’s EV transition.”
Currently, EVs represent over 10% of new vehicle registrations in Pimpri Chinchwad. The Municipal Corporation is endeavouring to bring Pimpri Chinchwad to the forefront of EV adoption by committing to the targets set by the Maharashtra EV Policy, establishing a city-level governance structure for EVs, and creating a contextual, quantitative, and regularly monitored EV readiness plan.
Graphic points
#Pimpri Chinchwad city registers approximately 1.5 lakh new vehicles every year
#Before 2021, the share of EVs in the new vehicle registrations in Pimpri Chinchwad was 1%.
#After the notification of the Maharashtra State EV Policy in 2021, EV penetration has been more pronounced
#In 2021, of 1.08 lakh total vehicle registrations, 4% were electric
#PCMC provides a 2% rebate to property owners setting up charging stations for EVs and 5% to housing societies
#PCMC has developed an EV cell website that acts as a knowledge repository
#PCMC is targeting the installation of at least 100 public/semi-public charging/swapping points by 2023 and increasing this number to a minimum of 500 by 2025
