UP to become manufacturing hub for e-vehicles

Uttar Pradesh has taken a leapfrog in the field of electric vehicles. Several cities in the states such as Kanpur, Lucknow, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Meerut are aggressively looking at manufacturing e-vehicles and lithium batteries.

Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said having 25 per cent of the total registered EV in India, Uttar Pradesh has a great possibility for flex hybrid vehicles market. Flex vehicles are those that run on flexible fuels—either on petrol or ethanol or even a blend of both.

Last year, Toyota launched its first-of-its-kind flex fuel-strong hybrid electric vehicle (FFV-SHEV) in India as a pilot project. The vehicle can run on 100 per cent ethanol.

Gadkari, speaking at the UP Global Investors Summit said that at present 740 electric buses run inside the state. The number will increase to 5000 soon. The minister, who was addressing the session on E-Mobility, Vehicles & Future Mobility at the summit in Lucknow in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, State Transport Minister Dayashankar Singh, NITI Aayog CEO Shri Parameswaran Iyer and other senior officials, said that government is installing scrapping centres and vehicle fitness centres in each 150 km of the state.

UP is the largest producer of ethanol and is now developing second-gen low-carbon ethanol on a priority basis.