NITI Aayog Likely To Roll Out Battery Swapping Policy By December 2022

Government think tank NITI Aayog is likely to roll out a 'Battery Swapping Policy' by December this year, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Sudhendu Jyoti Sinha, Adviser, Infrastructure Connectivity-Transport and Electric Mobility, NITI Aayog said, "The Battery Swapping Policy is likely to be rolled out by December," said Sudhendu Jyoti Sinha, adviser.

NITI Aayog is working on a proposal to prod railways to set up electric vehicle charging stations at railway stations in cities whose population is more than 10 lakhs. The policy was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2022-23 Budget speech and is being prepared by NITI Aayog.

By 2030, 80% of two and three-wheelers, 40% of buses and 30% to 70% of cars in India will be electric as per NITI Aayog.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman had said, "Considering the space constraint in urban areas for setting up electric vehicles charging stations, a battery swapping policy will be brought out and interoperability standards will be formulated.”

The minister had 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. The policy will facilitate faster rollout of battery swapping centers where EV owners would be able to refuel their EV by replacing exhausted batteries with charged ones.