In March 2022 union Minister Nitin Gadkari shared his dream of making India’s first electric highway between Delhi and Jaipur.
Addressing an event, Gadkari further said, so far the government has received 47 proposals to set up ropeway cables in Manipur, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Kashmir.
“My dream is to make an electric highway between Delhi and Jaipur,” he said.
The road transport and highways minister is confident in his ministry’s budget and the market support for an E-Highway.
Things Are Getting Serious
India is aggressively pushing EVs and the supporting infrastructure for EVs.The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been given Rs 1.99 lakh crore in the Budget for 2022–2023 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is largely in charge of developing NHs and expressways around the nation, would receive Rs. 1.34 lakh crore of this funding.
Delhi-Jaipur E-Highway Trial Run
The upcoming Delhi-Jaipur E-trial highway’s run date has been announced by the National Highway for Electric Vehicles (NHEV). When finished, the electric highway will be the first in India. The test run will begin on September 9 of this year. Early next year, NHEV plans to make the Delhi-Jaipur electric route publicly accessible. The 278-kilometer route will contain EV charging stations, which will aid in lowering carbon footprints.
The trial run will be launched by Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Chaubey, who stated that the Delhi-Jaipur E-Highway with NHEV pilot will be a groundbreaking Ease of Doing Business effort.
According to Chaubey, “This innovative project will help tourists and individuals to ‘travel clean’ on EVs even if they are not EV owners and will encourage more people to acquire and take part in making India’s surface transportation green.
Objectives Of the Trial Run
The electrified highway is based on the electrified roadways in nations like Sweden and Germany. Battery recharge is possible on electric highways for the electric vehicles that use them. The move is seen as a step toward giving electric vehicles more attention.
The trial run will evaluate the viability of the electric expressway using 24 electric buses and more than 100 electric vehicles on the ground. According to NHEV, each EV manufacturer will be able to support a run of one electric vehicle prototype in this TECH-Trial and be appointed for fleet orders.
Along with the Delhi-Jaipur section, negotiations for an electric highway segment on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway are also ongoing with a Swedish company. Gadkari has pushed for foreign investment in the roads industry and has previously requested the EU to create an electric highway in the nation. Seven of the 22 green expressways, he claimed, have already begun construction.
Delhi-Mumbai E-Highway
Building and employing an electric roadway is one of the most energy-efficient approaches to reducing carbon impact. The Delhi-Mumbai highway could soon have India’s one of the first electric highways if everything goes according to plan. The Road Ministry claimed that the first section of the E-highway will likely be finished by mid-2022. According to knowledgeable sources. The government is launching pilot projects to construct India’s first segment of electric motorways by the middle of 2022.
According to reports, the Indian government and a Swedish company are discussing building an electric highway on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. According to sources, the 120 kmph speed limit for trucks and buses on the e-highway will result in a 70% reduction in logistical costs. Approximately 20% of the roadways on the 200 km long Delhi-Jaipur expressway would be electrified. To recharge the batteries of freight trucks and other electric vehicles, separate lanes will be constructed.
This 200-km route, which is modeled after the electrified roads in Sweden and Germany, will be able to recharge the batteries of moving automobiles. The move is seen as a step toward giving electric vehicles more attention. Even though the project is still in its early stages, reports state that the second COVID-19 wave caused a delay in discussions over the construction of an electric roadway. The goal of creating such a route is still to lower the “carbon footprint,” though.
