Kollam: The state government has decided to give registrations only to electric autorickshaws from now on. The new electric motor vehicle policy will be implemented in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode cities first and later to expand in other parts of the state.

The government will buy electric vehicles for its future use as well. The idea is to get rid of petrol fuelled vehicles stage by stage and depend only on electric vehicles in the future.

The new policy also suggests to the government to provide subsidies for buying these electric autorickshaws as it can be expensive. Also KSEB has been decided as the nodal agency that has to set charging points in all the major roads across the state.77

At least three cents of land will be required to set up the charging stations. It may take up to 30 minutes for the charging to be completed. And once completely charged, it can cover a distance of 120 Kilometres.

Although diesel and petrol vehicles will be discouraged, it will not be banned.