It will soon be mandatory for residential and commercial buildings to have electric vehicle charging stations if the amendments proposed by the Centre under the new building by-laws are approved.
The objective is to cement the government's mission to go fully electric on roads by 2020.
The Town and Country Planning Organisation, under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has prepared the draft on guidelines for EV charging infrastructure, following which governments will amend their building bylaws and regulations governing master plans.
The new rules will cover residential colonies, institutional buildings, bus terminals, multi-level parking lots, and service stations.
A government official said that provision for round the-clock charging facility for all electric vehicles in residential buildings, charging bays at 20 per cent the capacity of all vehicles, on-spot metering, and payment services in both commercial and residential buildings are some of the various amendments proposed by the government.
"The amendments to Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation Guidelines, 2015 and Model Building By-Laws, 2016, are being mulled over to promote use of EVs in infrastructure planning and power distribution services norms," the official added.
A fresh policy to promote use of electric vehicles is also likely to be in the offing. According to the proposal, the government will create 'favourable ecosystems' in nine polluted cities having over 4 million population. It will gradually be extended to cities that have population of one million-plus.
The government's think-tank NITI Aayog is at the helm of framing these rules to promote use of EVs. The Aayog has given the task to at least seven ministries. Post formulation, the Aayog will then work upon an action plan to encourage the use of such vehicles.
Big Boost To Electric Cars
The new rules will cover residential colonies, institutional buildings, bus terminals, multi-level parking lots, and service stations
There will be on-spot metering and payment services in both commercial and residential building
