NHPC Ltd, a state-owned hydropower company, has signed an agreement with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a public sector unit under the ministry of power, for leasing of 25 electric vehicles and three fast charging devices to be used by its officials. The company said with the induction of these new vehicles, it will have the biggest fleet of such zero-emission cars among all public sector units (PSUs).
A broad memorandum of understanding between NHPC Ltd and EESL Ltd to explore opportunities of energy efficiency and conservation measures in NHPC is also under process, the company said in a statement.
The agreement was signed with Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) a wholly-owned subsidiary of EESL.
“We are glad to expand our EV fleet by associating with CESL. NHPC is dedicated towards the environment and is committed to contributing towards reducing carbon footprints in the country”, said A K Singh, chairman and managing director, NHPC.
The Narendra Modi-government has been urging vehicle manufacturers to develop and manufacture electric vehicles to reduce vehicular emission and curb oil imports. The union government has also been incentivising purchase of such vehicles through the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing Electric and Hybrid vehicle (FAME) scheme.
Over the last few years, EESL has been procuring electric vehicles from manufacturers like Tata Motors Ltd, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd and others, and then supply them to different ministries and public sector units. This was a strategy adopted by the government to push the adoption of electric vehicles by replacing the existing combustion engine vehicles at ministries and PSUs.
The union government has also been focusing on driving sales of electric vehicles in the two and three-wheeler segments where the price gap has been narrowing.
“It is a well-established fact that electric vehicles are the future. The country’s transition towards cleaner modes of transport cannot be fulfilled without mass adoption of electric vehicles and we are delighted to have partnered with NHPC to accelerate this movement,” said Saurabh Kumar, executive vice-chairperson, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL).
