Big respite for two-wheeler buyers in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, July 3
The UT Administration has revised its Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy and reduced the registration target for electric two-wheelers. The target has now been reduced to 35 per cent from the previous 70 per cent to be achieved in 2023-24.
However, the new targets will be achieved in the calendar year instead of the financial year. This means, 65 per cent non-electric two-wheelers can be registered in 2023. However, of 35%, 12.5% electric two-wheelers have already been registered in the city.
A meeting was held under the chairmanship of UT Adviser Dharam Pal, in the presence of Mayor Anup Gupta, Home Secretary Nitin Yadav and other officers to review the EV Policy.
The Electric Vehicle Policy-2022 was approved to make Chandigarh a “Model EV City” by achieving one of the highest penetrations of zero-emission vehicles within the policy period of five years. The policy is aimed at mitigating the environmental impact caused by conventional vehicles and establish Chandigarh as a leading “Electric Vehicle City”.
In order to encourage people to switch from conventional vehicles to electric vehicles and reduce their carbon footprint, various targets were set by the Administration, which were further reviewed by the officials today. These proposed targets will be sent to the UT Administrator for a final approval.
After extensive deliberations, new and flexible targets have been proposed under different categories of electric vehicles.
The target for the e-two-wheeler category of vehicles have substantially been relaxed, from the existing 70% to 25% for 2024. In the e-three-wheeler (goods) category, the target has been reduced from 40% to 35% and for the e-four-wheeler goods vehicles category, from 40% to 15%. The target for e-buses has been reduced from 50% to 25% for 2024.
However, no changes have been made to the existing target for e-commercial cars, as the 20% target for 2023 has already been achieved.
With regard to e-personal cars, the double target of registration of 20% electric cars has been achieved for 2023, surpassing the original goal of 10%. The revised targets have been slightly increased by 5% to 25% for 2024.
The existing cap of Rs 20 lakh on ex-showroom prices of e-four-wheelers will be removed, but the cap on incentives (Rs 1.5 lakh) will remain unchanged as proposed in the policy. It has also been decided that from now on, all government departments/local bodies will only purchase electric vehicles, with prior approvals in case of any exceptions. The subsidy for e-bicycles has been increased from 25% of the cost, capped at Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000.
Further, the installation of 53 charging stations at multiple locations, with a total of 418 charging points will also be done.
These measures have been taken with the aim of encouraging citizens to adopt electric vehicles, reduce their carbon footprint and work towards making Chandigarh a carbon-neutral city.
Mayor Anup Gupta, who strongly opposed the EV Policy in its present form, said, “How could we enforce the registration of only EVs in the city when 5 lakh vehicles from outside enter and exit the city daily? If the registration of petrol vehicles is stopped in Chandigarh, people can register their vehicles in Mohali and Panchkula and it will be a major revenue loss for the city and people will also shift their business to the neighbouring states.” Earlier, the Administration had decided to stop the registration of non-electric two-wheelers on achieving the target of 6,202 in 2023-24 financial year. Up to June 28, 5,500 non-electric two-wheelers had been registered in the city and the target was likely to be achieved by the end of this week, which was 30% as per the EV Policy.
Cap on ex-showroom prices of e-4-wheelers to go
The existing cap of Rs 20 lakh on ex-showroom prices of e-four-wheelers will be removed, but the cap on incentives (Rs 1.5 lakh) will remain unchanged as proposed in the policy.
Subsidy on electric bicycles up
The subsidy for electric bicycles has been increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000
Charging infra
The installation of 53 charging stations at multiple locations, with a total of 418 charging points will also be done.
