Budget 2022: Centre announces battery swapping policy to promote EVs

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the government will bring a battery swapping policy to boost the use of electric vehicles in the country, keeping in view the space constraints for setting up charging stations.

“Considering the constraint space in urban areas for setting up (electric vehicles) charging stations, a battery swapping policy will be brought out and interoperability standards will be formulated,” Sitharaman said in her Budget speech in the Lok Sabha.

Sitharaman stated that the private sector will be encouraged to set up sustainable business models for battery or energy service and this will improve efficiency in the EV ecosystem.

“We will promote a shift to use public transport in urban areas. This will be complemented by clean tech and governance solutions, special mobility zones with zero fossil fuel policy and EV vehicles,” Sitharaman stated.

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The policy will facilitate a faster rollout of battery swapping Centre’s where EV owners would be able to refuel their EV by replacing exhausted batteries with charged ones.

The policy will also save time taken in charging the embedded batteries in EVs.

At present, a few such options are available in the country and EV owners have to spend hours charging their vehicles at charging stations, especially in cities.

Moreover, there is space constrain for setting up new charging stations in urban areas.

(With inputs from Agencies)