CHENNAI:
National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) under its Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) program started the 3rd Tech Trial Run of Electric Vehicles for upgrading five of Tamil Nadu's highways into e-highways.
The trial covers a 332 km stretch from Chennai to Trichy including electric, hydrogen, and zero-emission freight vehicles for the first time, in addition to electric SUVs and buses tested in previous trials. The flag-off ceremony was held on Monday at Chennai Trade Centre here to mark the World Electric Vehicle Day, The event was attended by Dr P Alarmelmangai, Executive Director, Guidance Tamil Nadu and also officials from Startup TN along with several industry partners.
The deployment of Zero-Emission Trucks (ZET), hydrogen, and electric freight vehicles along the route will provide stakeholders, including users, financiers, and manufacturers with critical insights to facilitate informed decisions on immediate vehicle deployment. Key factors under assessment include the cost efficiency of electric versus diesel and hydrogen vehicles, the total cost of ownership for a fleet of electric buses or trucks, the breakeven period for investment recovery, and the costs associated with upgrading e-highway infrastructure.
The Tech Trial 3 focuses on five key routes --- Trichy to Chennai, Trichy to Madurai, Coimbatore to Ulundurpet, Kishnagiri to Madurai, and Madurai to Kanyakumari. Data from a technical trial will be used to determine the optimal locations for charging stations, their required frequency, associated costs, and the overall investment needed to upgrade these highways into e-highways.
The project aims to reduce logistics costs in India from 14% to 9%. Trucking significantly contributes to these costs, and Tamil Nadu's progress in cutting logistics expenses could serve as a model for other states. The focus will be on decarbonizing the trucking industry and transitioning to zero-emission trucking, says Abhijit Sinha, Program Director at NHEV. Despite their lower operating costs compared to diesel, hydrogen and electric trucks are not yet available for business use. This trial seeks to gather real-time data to support their initial pilot deployment, similar to the earlier e-mobility pilot project under the Ease of Doing Business program for electric buses and SUVs, he added.
Tamil Nadu has been chosen after a very extensive exercise to understand what it brings to the table. It has a position in the Indian economy as an economy that is poised to become a one-trillion-dollar economy. Second, it has a place in the Indian logistics sector. It serves as a hub for automobiles, logistics, and trucking in the southern part of India. It sends and receives huge amounts of goods. It also has a large number of industries, component partners, steel and cement manufacturers, and many other manufacturing units in this part of India, Sinha said.
National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) is a pilot program adopted by Govt of India; initially supported by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to upgrade highways into E-Highways
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