New Delhi: In a major green push, the government is planning to replace its fleet of thousands of petrol and diesel cars with electric powertrain vehicles. A tender to procure 3,500 electric vehicles (EV) units will be issued soon. State-run Convergence Energy Services (CESL), which handles the acquisition of electric vehicles for central and state government departments, said it has got a demand for over 3,500 EVs. A tender may be floated soon. Central and state governments have a combined fleet of about 6,00,000 petrol and diesel cars at present.
CESL’s fresh tender comes at a time the market for passenger vehicle EVs is set to cross 50,000 units for the first time as EV adoption gains pace. While the qualified demand for EVs to be added to the government’s fleet is 3,500, the number could jump significantly to 10,000 vehicles within two years.
Tata Motors broke the sub-Rs 10 lakh barrier in EV pricing last week with the debut of Tiago priced at Rs 8.49-11.79 lakh (ex-showroom) for the first 10,000 buyers. As of now, the company also offers electric versions of its SUV Nexon and sedan Tigor. The Altroz EV and Punch EV will be introduced by Tata Motors by the end of this year, giving consumers more options in the market for sub-15 lakh cars.
