New Delhi [India], April 22 : Maharatna company Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) has sanctioned a loan of Rs 633 crore to Gensol Engineering Ltd (GEL) for the purchase of 5,000 electric passenger vehicles and 1,000 cargo EVs.
The passenger EVs will be leased to Blusmart Mobility (BMPL) to expand its fleet of ride-hailing cabs. The first tranche of the loan has been disbursed, and the first lot of EV cabs has hit the roads of Delhi.
Ministry of Power additional secretary Ajay Tewari and PFC chairman and managing director Ravinder Singh Dhillon flagged off the cabs on Thursday, according to a statement from the ministry.
Ravinder Singh Dhillon said, "E-mobility adoption is going on at a fast pace in the country, and we believe that there is a huge potential in this field. Through this funding, PFC has endeavoured to contribute towards India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) goals, and this will go a long way for moving towards a healthy and sustainable mode of transport."
The 5000 passenger e4Ws (electric four-wheelers) funded by PFC are being deployed in Delhi and would result in emission savings of over 1,00,000 tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. This is equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by over 5 million fully-grown trees a year.
According to the statement, with a vision of accelerating India's net-zero goal, PFC, apart from funding renewables in a big way, has been exploring opportunities in debt-funding of EVs for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and fleet acquisition, battery OEMs and EV-charging infrastructure.
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