Cities in India are actively pursuing and are eager to support the electrification of vehicles in line with national targets and ambitions. However, an accelerated transition to electric vehicles (EV) requires the setting of a long-term target along with the development of accessible and robust public EV infrastructure, collaboration, and engagement with all stakeholders, taking action and evaluating them, and then scaling up those actions for sustainable impact.
In this context, Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC), with deep-dive technical support from ICLEI South Asia, is working towards EV-ready buildings and electrification of intermediate public transport and is actively putting in place EV supply equipment. Meanwhile, ICLEI South Asia has developed recommendations for EV-ready buildings, which were presented to stakeholders on the 11th of November 2022, as part of an action plan for the EV transition in Rajkot. These recommendations were drafted following online interactions with RMC officials and in-person consultations with other stakeholders. These activities were conducted as part of the Supporting Indian Cities to take Leadership on Electric Vehicle project, under which ICLEI South Asia is engaging with the cities of Gangtok, Coimbatore, Kochi, Lakshadweep, and Nagpur, besides Panaji, Shimla, Surat, Rajkot and Meerut to map the status and uptake of electrification of transport.
During the consultation session, the recommendations were presented to the stakeholder’s forum for accelerating EVs in Rajkot which included the representatives of the town planning department, traffic police, electrical engineering department, Rajkot Rajpath Ltd, and RMC.