'Policy will promote growth and position TN as EV hub of South Asia'

CHENNAI: “The country is moving faster in the EV ecosystem and Tamil Nadu with its dominance in manufacturing is well positioned to emerge as the EV hub of South Asia. Today, every single major OEM, component manufacturer is looking at TN as a destination. Post the announcement of the EV policy, multiple EV players investments have shot up. The state is now ready for the future and is the ideal destination not only in the country but in South Asia,” said V Vishnu, MD-CEO, Guidance Tamil Nadu.

Delivering his inaugural Address at the Commercial Vehicle Summit organised by the CII with the theme ‘Future Technologies and Trade in CV Industry’ here on Friday, he said “our pace is much larger with the recently announced EV policy by the TN government after taking two important factors. One is the Supply Incentives for manufacturing in the EV space and the other on Demand side incentives.”.

The demand side incentives is primarily aimed for fleet conversions. The TN government has further identified six cities to start with to be developed into EV cities. The six cities are Chennai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai, Salem and Tirunelveli. Further, EV hubs in Krishnagiri District and Manallur in Chennai will also be developed”, he added.

“Another factor that needs to be considered is the Skilling ecosystem for the EV Industry and the transition to fuel cells. The overall skilling ecosystem needs to be addressed on an urgent basis. Lastly, the government with the EV Policy aims to attract Rs 50,000 crore in investments and is expected to generate employment for 1.5 lakh people,” he added.

“There are more opportunities ahead than challenges in the CV Industry. The technology for commercial vehicles be it small or heavy, in EV, LNG or Hydrogen are still evolving. What we have to see is how they are going to evolve over the next 3 to 5 years. It is indeed exciting times ahead and there are more opportunities than threats,” said Srivats Ram, VC, CII TN-MD, Wheels India, in his special address.