Finally Andhra Pradesh won the game of competition and inked Memorandum of Understanding with Toyota Kirloskar for establishing of Manufacturing Unit of Electric Vehicles in the State. Toyota had also examined Gujarat and Maharashtra States to establish its Indian EV Unit. The incentives and offers proposed by Government of Andhra Pradesh have attracted Toyota more when compared to two other states.
In continuation, on Thursday, Toyota Kirloskar signed MoU with Government of Andhra Pradesh today to introduce electric vehicles in Andhra Pradesh. MoU was signed in the presence of Minister for IT, Government of AP, Shri Nara lokesh and Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Mr. Akito Tachibana. On behalf of Government of AP, IT Department Principle Secretary, K. Vijayanand, signed the MOU. “This is a first of its kind agreement for Toyota to introduce its electric cars in India”, Vijayanand told “The Pioneer”. Toyota agreed to supply two models of its electric cars to AP Government for free.
“We will experimentally try these vehicles which will be delivered between May and December 2018 in the State”, lokesh said, “Our Government is working on creating an ecosystem for Electric Vehicles (EV) in Andhra Pradesh”.
“We are in discussions with EV manufacturers, battery manufactures, cab aggregators and other stakeholders to create a comprehensive Electric Vehicles Policy for the State”, he said. “To kick-start the use of EVs, Government of Andhra Pradesh will become the biggest consumer of electric vehicles in India”, he added, “Government of AP is also discussing with electric bus manufacturers to introduce project in Tirupati”.