Maharashtra's Environment Minister and Guardian Minister Aaditya Thackeray inaugurated the state's first public charging station for electric vehicles, at Dadar West. Thackeray also announced that public charging stations for electric vehicles will be set up at various places in Mumbai soon.

Shiv Sena leader Sada Sarvankar was also present on the occasion.

The Maharashtra government had last month announced its new EV policy with an aim of making such vehicles achieve 10 per cent share of total registrations by 2025.

The new policy, which has updated the one announced in 2018, was released by Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) Ashish Singh and state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray and others here.

"The policy has some ambitious targets. Electric vehicles must comprise at least 10 per cent of total vehicles registered by 2025. We also want to achieve 25 per cent EV share in public transport in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Nashik.

It includes converting 15 per cent of the MSRTC fleet into EVs by 2025. We also intend to make Maharashtra the top producer of battery driven EVs in India in terms of annual production capability," Singh said. He said another target laid down in the new policy was to establish one gigawatt of battery manufacturing capability in the state.

Earlier this month, an area dedicated for parking and charging of e- vehicles along the upcoming Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway was increased five-fold.

"Nearly 70 per cent civil work of the 701-km long Samruddhi Expressway has been completed. The amenities of fuel stations and electric vehicle charging stations will be made operational simultaneously with the highway," Joint MD of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Chandrakant Pulkundwar, told PTI.

The highway has been officially named as Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Mahamarg.

Earlier, the space reserved for parking and charging of e-vehicles in the amenities area along this highway was five per cent. But soon after the government announced the EV policy, it was decided to increase the area for these purposes to 25 per cent, he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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