Electric Vehicle-ready Highways to Soon be a Reality in India? Here is What Govt Has Planned

New Delhi: India to get electric vehicle-ready highways? Yes, you read it right. One of the top priority ambitious plans of the Indian government's includes constructing electric vehicle-ready highways on the Golden Quadrilateral network. This plan aims to cut fuel consumption and vehicular emissions with intercity electric public transport. Over the next seven years, 6,000 km of these highways will unfold, promoting electric mobility and facilitating nationwide electric bus deployment. These routes will feature charging infrastructure powered by green energy sources.

Dubbed 'Vision 2030: PM Public Transport Sewa,' this initiative is synchronised with the introduction of electric buses, setting the stage for India's electric vehicle ecosystem, as per an Economic Times report. A government official highlighted this, stating that Electric highway development will coincide with electric bus induction, accelerating India's EV ecosystem.

Stakeholder discussions have kicked off to replace 800,000 old, polluting diesel buses with electric ones by 2030. This includes 200,000 buses for state transport, 550,000 for private operators, and 50,000 for school and employee transport.

The new e-highways are poised to foster charging infrastructure growth, encouraging greater adoption of electric cars. However, last year's electric car sales fell short of the 100,000-unit target, reaching only 83,000 units. Limited range and inadequate charging facilities remain consumer concerns, relegating electric vehicles to secondary or tertiary transport options.

What is the Golden Quadrilateral network? 

The Golden Quadrilateral is a highway network that links India's prime metropolitan areas — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. It shapes a significant quadrilateral within the country. Formed as part of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) in 2001, this expansive project stands as India's largest highway initiative.

Spanning a total length of 5,846 kilometers, the quadrilateral comprises four to six-lane expressways. Initially projected at Rs 600 billion, the project remarkably concluded at nearly half the estimated cost, amounting to Rs 308.58 billion. The entirety of this vast network became fully operational by January 2012.