Hybrid vehicles surpass registration of electric vehicles in August, September in Chandigarh
Dushyant Singh Pundir
Chandigarh, October 2
It seems the buzz around electric vehicles, especially passenger ones, is losing its sheen in UT as sales of strong hybrid vehicles overtook the former in the past two months.
The sales of strong hybrid vehicles was 113 per cent higher than electric ones in August, whereas it witnessed an increase of 408 per cent up to September 18.
High cost, poor infra to blame
An automobile dealer said the cost of electric vehicles was nearly double the cost of those running on fossil fuels. Also, there were no public charging stations available in the city, he added.
According to the data available, as many as 177 strong hybrid vehicles were registered in August against 83 electric vehicles. Similarly, 66 strong hybrid vehicles were registered up to September 18 against the registration of just 13 EVs.
To encourage the adoption of eco-friendly vehicles and contribute to a cleaner and greener Chandigarh, the UT Transport Department in May exempted electric and hybrid vehicles, including two-wheelers, from road tax in the city for a period of five years.
The UT Transport Department has prepared a list of 23 models eligible for road tax exemption in the hybrid vehicle category, including strong hybrid and plug-in hybrid models. The list includes five models and variants of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, 16 of Toyota Kirloskar Motors Limited and two of Honda Cars India Limited.
To adopt the green technologies, the UT Administration unveiled its Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy on September 20 last year. However, EV adoption remained poor as even after a year of the launch of the policy, there were only 5% electric vehicles out of the total vehicles registered in the past one year.
According to the data available from September 20, 2022, till September 18, 2023, a total of 19,592 non-electric two-wheelers were registered against 1,807 electric two-wheelers. Similarly, 26,372 non-electric four-wheelers were registered against 752 electric and 263 strong hybrid vehicles during the period. Shockingly, the sales of electric two-wheelers in September this year was the lowest since the adoption of the EV Policy as only 23 were sold, while 26 were sold in September last year.
On poor response to the electric vehicles, a member of the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association, Chandigarh, said the cost of e-scooters was too high and out of reach for many. He said the cost of batteries was also comparatively high.
An automobile dealer said the cost of electric vehicles was nearly double the cost of those running on fossil fuels. Also, there were no public charging stations available in the city, he added.
The UT Administration has decided to halt the registration of internal combustion engine (ICE) two-wheelers once the target fixed for 2023 in the revised Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy is achieved, most likely in the first week of October.
According to the target, only 12,076 two-wheelers running on ICE are to be registered in the city till December this year. After achieving the number, their registration will be stopped and only electric two-wheelers will be registered.
Since April, as many as 11,254 two-wheelers have been registered up to September 22.
In such a situation, only 822 non-electric two-wheelers can be registered.
Incentives enough to boost EV adoption?
The UT’s EV Policy is aimed at making Chandigarh a “Model EV City” by achieving one of the highest penetrations of zero-emission vehicles within the policy period of five years.
To promote EVs, the administration has waived registration fee and road tax for five years, while owners of vehicles running on conventional fuels have to pay both.
Also an incentive ranging from ?3,000 to ?2 lakh is being offered for up to 42,000 vehicles of different categories, including 25,000 e-cycles, 10,000 e-bikes and 3,000 e-cars, purchased between September 20, 2022, and September 19, 2027.
The incentive is available for EVs bought anywhere across the country, but only permanent residents of Chandigarh are eligible for it.
