Chandigarh: 250 buyers of electric cars to get incentives under revised policy

Nearly 250 buyers of electric cars will get financial benefits after the UT Administration revised the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy on July 31.

The incentives given on purchase of electric four-wheelers were discontinued after the quota of first 2,000 cars fixed in the policy exhausted in November last year.

On proposals made by the UT Electric Vehicle Advisory Committee, the UT Administration has recently enhanced the cap on the number of electric four-wheelers eligible for the incentives from 2,000 to 3,500 units.

According to officials, nearly 250 residents had purchased electric cars from November till date. Now, they could also avail financial benefit in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh each on submitting the application.

The officials said they had already received over 100 applications. The Administration has decided to focus on accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles by achieving the EV penetration target of 18% for the financial year 2025–26 in the city.

It has also decided that buyers of electric two-wheelers would be eligible for insurance assistance of up to Rs 5,000 for the first year, and increased the subsidy for electric two-wheelers from Rs 5,000/kWh to Rs 10,000/kWh, subject to a maximum of Rs 30,000 per vehicle.

Women buyers of electric two-wheelers to get enhanced subsidy of Rs 12,500/kWh, capped at Rs 37,500 per vehicle. The incentive for electric bicycles has also been increased from 25% of the cost (up to Rs 4,000) to 25% of the cost, up to Rs 6,000.

In the policy, rolled out in September 2022, the UT Administration has offered incentives in the range from Rs 3,000 to Rs 2 lakh for the first 42,000 buyers of e-vehicles of all categories during the policy period of five years.