Chandigarh Administration Approves Electric Vehicle Policy Draft

The Chandigarh Administration approved the city's first electric vehicle policy draft for five years that will come into effect from April 1, 2022. The Draft Electric Vehicle Policy, 2022, aims to make Chandigarh a "Model EV City" by achieving one of the highest penetration of zero-emission vehicles amongst all Indian cities in a period of five years. The draft of the EV policy will be in the public domain for a period of 30 days for inviting suggestions and comments from all the stakeholders as well as the general public of the union territory before the policy is cleared.

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The draft policy suggests capping the number of petrol and diesel two and three-wheelers sold every year in Chandigarh in a bid to push adoption of EVs

The Chandigarh Electric Vehicle Policy has made the provision to incentivise the adoption of EVs including electric bicycles, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, electric cargo vehicles as well as four-wheelers, passenger and commercial. The incentives will be over and above the central government's FAME II subsidy that extends to the applicable vehicles in the country. Customers who want to avail of incentives will have to purchase and register the vehicle in Chandigarh.

Under the draft policy, the incentives to buy electric vehicles include waiving the registration fee. Meanwhile, EVs are already exempted from road tax in Chandigarh till 2024. Moreover, commercial EVs including two-wheelers used for last-mile delivery should convert to an electric fleet by March 31, 2024. This will include cab aggregators as well.

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Cars like the Tata Nexon EV will be able to avail benefits of up to Rs. 1.50 lakh under the new policy

Buyers can avail of an incentive of Rs. 5,000 per kW on electric two-wheelers subject to a maximum of Rs. 30,000. The incentive stands at Rs. 10,000 per kW on electric cars up to Rs. 1.50 lakh (up from the earlier Rs. 75,000). An incentive of Rs. 30,000 will be given on the purchase of e-three-wheelers, e-rickshaws, e-cars and more. The draft policy also suggests capping the number of petrol and diesel two-wheelers and three-wheelers every year in the UT. The four-wheelers will be phased out in a staged manner due to the limited availability of options and price range.

Speaking about the policy, Inderveer Singh, Founder & CEO, EVage Ventures Pvt. Ltd. said, "Mandating a complete switch to EV for fleets in the e-commerce, logistics and delivery companies by 2024 is a clear statement of intent to turn Chandigarh into a model EV city. The draft policy could turn into a replicable blueprint for other cities across India to emulate. We are excited to play our role in the EV-fication of Chandigarh!"

The policy also specifies a 100 per cent waiver on parking charges at Chandigarh Municipal Corporation-run parking lots for five years for all kinds of electric vehicles. The Chandigarh Electric Vehicle Policy will also help create a public charging infrastructure and aims to have at least 100 public charging stations in the first two years.