Maharashtra EV Policy: State Government Announces Incentives And Parking Area Regulations For Chargi

Maharashtra was one of the first states in the country to design and notify an electric vehicle (EV) policy in a bid to complement the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle II (FAME II) EV policy. The state had released its EV policy back in February 2018 to provide fiscal and nonfiscal incentives to accelerate the adoption and manufacturing of EVs in the state and revised its EV policy again in July this year to increase the EV penetration. Now the state has again announced additional incentives to promote EV sales, including on the charging infrastructure.

Also Read: Maharashtra Drafts New EV Policy; Aims For 10 Per Cent Electrification By 2025

To begin with, the state has incentivised up to 60 per cent of public and semi-public charging stations with incentives of up to Rs. 5 lakh, subjected to charging station types and other requirements of course. For your perspective, the state is giving incentives of up to Rs. 10,000 for the first 15,000 units of slow EV chargers and up to Rs. 5 lakh for the first 500 units of moderate and fast chargers. All upcoming residential buildings and projects will have to develop 20 per cent of the parking area for EV ready infrastructure that will support charging equipment, from 2022 onwards. Similarly, all upcoming commercial projects and public parking places will have to provide with 25 per cent EV ready parking are 2023 onwards. And finally, all government office complexes will covert 100 per cent of their parking area to EV ready by 2025.

The state has announced additional incentives to promote EV sales.

The state will also setup at-least one public charging station in a 3 km x 3 km grid or a minimum of 50 charging stations per million population, whichever is higher. By 2025, city-wise targets of public and semi-public charging stations are- Greater Mumbai urban area (UA) - 1500 Pune UA - 500, Nagpur UA - 150, Nashik UA - 100, Aurangabad UA - 75, Amravati - 30 and Solapur - 20. Looking at long distance solution for the same, it will setup public charging stations on highways at 25 km distance on both sides of the highways. These stations should cater to charging requirements of long-haul passenger and freight vehicles like e-buses and electric trucks among others. Moreover, all new government vehicles (owned or leased) operating within the major cities will be made electric starting April 2022.

The primary objective of Maharashtra EV Policy 2021 is to accelerate adoption of BEVs in the state so that they contribute to 10 per cent to new vehicle registrations by 2025. Now when you further segregate them into segments, the state is aiming for 10 per cent electrification of two-wheelers, 20 per cent electrification if three-wheelers and 5 per cent electrification of passenger vehicles by 2025. Electrification target for fleet operators and public transport is set at 25 per cent by 2025 and this includes e-commerce brands, last mile connectivity options and mobility aggregators operating in urban areas. MSRTC will also convert 15 per cent of its existing bus fleet to electric.