Transport dept eyes policy based on electric vehicles

KOLKATA: The state Transport department is drafting an electric vehicle based transport policy, in a bid to reduce the pollution caused by harmful vehicular emissions.

"If we go for this type of conversion (from diesel to electric), we have to think about all the perspectives ranging from the infrastructure to end users. Also, proper placing of the charging stations must be thought about," said state Transport Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam, on the sidelines of a workshop on 'Emerging Technologies, Policies, Challenges and Trends in Electric Mobility: What can State do', held on Monday at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre.

Shashi Verma, the Chief Technology Officer and Director of Customer Experience for London Transport, graced the occasion along with Kalyan Rudra, Chairman of West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), Debashis Sen, Chairman and Managing director of HIDCO and other transport officials.

The workshop focused on the markets, challenges, merits and demerits of running electric vehicles. "In London, the number of private vehicles is decreasing. On the other hand, the number of public transport users are on the rise," Verma pointed out.

According to Nigam, proper planning is required before introducing electric vehicles. "We have to check the supply and demand ratio of the electric vehicles. We have to decide whether to place charging points near Railway stations or shopping malls," he said.

"We are discussing with different departments and experts to explore the possibilities of running more and more electric vehicles. However, the state Transport department has already introduced electric buses in the city," said an official of the state Transport department.

The electric bus service in New Town has been a successful venture ever since its launch, with more than 2.14 lakh passengers availing the service in the past 21 months.

The buses that ply in New Town are air-conditioned, with a seating capacity of 32 passengers.

Across the globe, special initiatives have been taken up in order to reduce the pollution levels caused by fossil fuel driven vehicles, through the introduction of electric ones. The state Transport department too, has already introduced 80 such buses which are plying on different routes throughout the city.