GOI plans to establish electric vehicle-ready highways by 2030

The Indian government is prioritising building electric vehicle-ready roadways on the Golden Quadrilateral network as one of its most ambitious projects. With the use of intercity electric public transit, this concept seeks to reduce fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. 6,000 km of these roadways will be completed in the next seven years, encouraging the use of electric vehicles and easing the deployment of electric buses across the country. Green energy sources will be used to power the charging infrastructure along these routes.

According to an Economic Times story, this project called 'Vision 2030: PM Public Transport Sewa,' is timed to coincide with the launch of electric buses, therefore laying the foundation for India's electric vehicle ecosystem. The building of electric highways will coincide with the introduction of electric buses, advancing India's electric vehicle ecosystem, according to a government official.

Stakeholder talks have begun on replacing 800,000 outdated, polluting diesel buses with electrified vehicles by 2030. This comprises 550,000 buses for private operators, 200,000 buses for state transportation, and 50,000 buses for employee and school transportation.

The expansion of the charging infrastructure will be facilitated by the planned e-highways, which will promote a higher uptake of electric vehicles. Nevertheless, just 83,000 electric cars were sold last year, falling short of the 100,000-unit goal. Due to their short range and poor charging infrastructure, electric vehicles are only suitable as secondary or tertiary modes of transportation for consumers.

Highways that connect India's main cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata—form the Golden Quadrilateral. It forms an important quadrilateral inside the nation. Established in 2001 as a component of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), this vast undertaking is recognised as the biggest highway project in India.

The quadrilateral is 5,846 km long and is made up of four to six-lane motorways. The project, which had been initially budgeted for Rs 600 billion, was impressively completed for about half that amount, or Rs 308.58 billion. By January 2012, the whole of this enormous network was completely operating.