Admn tom-toms EV policy, 23 charging units non-functional

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, August 12

The UT Administration is advocating for the adoption of electric vehicles, but the city’s infrastructure is still not prepared for it. Despite the installation of 23 charging stations over nine months ago, these still remain non-operational.

Incentive released

• A total of 1,489 cases, including 406 e-four-wheelers, 1,049 e-two- wheelers, 32 e-three-wheelers and two e-four- wheelers (N1), received for availing of incentive on EV purchase
• An official said total incentive amounting to Rs 8.35 crore had been released to 1,369 beneficiaries
• The amount released includes an early bird incentive amounting to Rs 1.93 crore
• Union Ministry of Heavy Industries says 7,628 EVs registered in city till July 14

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of Heavy Industries, in reply to a question raised in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session, stated that nine private public charging stations with 17 charging points were operational in Chandigarh.

The UT Administration had notified the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy on September 20 last year, and fixed the charging tariff at Rs 8 per unit for slow and moderate charging, Rs 10 per unit for fast charging and Rs 11 per unit for battery swapping. However, the facility is still not available to the consumers. An official of the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology Promotion Society (CREST), the nodal agency for the implementation of the EV policy, said the charging stations were ready and these would be made operational within two-three weeks.

The UT had installed 23 charging stations at nine locations across the city in November last year. These stations will have a total of 92 charging guns, through which an equal number of vehicles can be charged simultaneously.

The official said work on the installation of 44 more charging stations under the “Chandigarh developer mode” at various locations was underway and eight stations had been installed at various places, including multilevel parking in Sector 17, parking lot at the Elante mall, parking area of the Mani Majra car bazaar, the Madhya Marg in Sector 26 and the parking of the Sector 44-D market. According to the policy, the direct incentive will remain in operation for a policy period of five years or till the time the administration decides otherwise.

New buyers who purchase a new electric car or hybrid vehicle between September 20, 2022, and September 19, 2027, will be eligible for direct incentive subject to the number of electric vehicles to be incentivised as per the policy.