Mumbai, May 27 (IANS): In a major 'green initiative', The Maharashtra government on Thursday announced that it expects 10 per cent of all new vehicles registered in the state would be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2025.

The share of EVs in new vehicle registrations across the state in 2025 is likely to be 10 per cent for all vehicles, 10 per cent for two-wheelers, 20 per cent for three-wheelers, and 5 per cent for four-wheelers, the draft Electric Vehicles Policy 2021 said.

It also envisages setting up at least one Gigafactory for the manufacturing of advanced batteries in the state to cater to the expected demands.

At a virtual conference to discuss the future of electric mobility, Additional Chief Secretary A.K. Singh announced key highlights of the draft Electric Vehicles Policy 2021, which awaits the clearance of the state Cabinet.

Singh said that currently, the state's share of national vehicles registrations is around 12 per cent (32,000), which is not big enough to excite the automobile manufacturers.

The state is keen to take advantage of the Centre's schemes and just as it leads in the field of manufacturing of internal combustion engines, it could also become a leading producer of EVs, he pointed out.

The draft EV policy targets urban centres like Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Nagpur, Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad, aiming to achieve 25 per cent electrification of intra-city public transport and other vehicles by 2025.

This includes an ambitious plan to convert 15 per cent of the 18,000-storng fleet of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses to the electric mode by 2025.

To aid this, the government plans to increase the number of charging stations in these cities/regions by 2025 to cater to the growing requirements.

Maharashtra Transport Commissioner Avinash Dhakne said that the state plans to make four highways/expressways fully EV-ready by 2025, including the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the upcoming Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway and the Mumbai-Nashik and Pune-Nashik highways.

From April 2022, the state plans that all new government vehicles shall be EVs in the major cities listed under the draft policy.

the Chairman of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Sudhir Srivastava, said that parallel to the new EV policy, the MPCB is drafting its own policy and rules on recycling lithium-ion batteries and associated electronic wastes that would be generated.