Year on, Chandigarh Admn to review Electric Vehicle Policy

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, October 5

Facing challenges in switching over to electric vehicles, the UT Administration has decided to review the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy.

Rolled out on September 20 last year, the policy is likely to be reviewed by second week of this month, said a senior officer.

Apart from taking a decision on the continuation of incentives being provided to the buyers of new vehicles, flaws and strength of the policy would be deliberated upon thoroughly and decisions taken accordingly, he said. The policy has completed one year of its implementation and it needs to be reviewed after every year to make Chandigarh a “Model EV City” by achieving zero emission vehicles (ZEV) among all Indian cities by the end of the policy period of five years, he added.

Apart from a complete waiver on the registration fee and road tax, the UT has offered incentives from Rs 3,000 to Rs 2 lakh for a limited number of vehicles of various categories during the policy period to encourage buyers to purchase EVs. Besides, there was a special early bird incentive for the vehicles purchased and registered in the first year of the policy period.

Despite various incentives, adoption of electric vehicles remained low in the city, as only 5% electric vehicles have been registered out of the total vehicles registered in the past one year.

According to the data available from September 20, 2022, till September 18 this year, 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.

The UT Administration has decided to halt the registration of two-wheelers running on internal combustion engine (ICE) once the target fixed for 2023 in the revised Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy is achieved, most likely in a few days.

According to the target, only 12,076 two-wheelers running on ICE are to be registered in the city till December this year. As many as 11,254 two-wheelers have been registered till September 22. In such a situation, only 822 non-electric two-wheelers can be registered further this calendar year.

Meeting to decide on incentives

Apart from taking a decision on the continuation of incentives being provided to the buyers of new vehicles, flaws and strength of the policy would be deliberated upon thoroughly and decisions taken accordingly, said an officer.

Registrations

Total vehicles: 52,412
(September 20, 2022-September 18, 2023)

Electric two-wheelers: 1,807

Non-electric two-wheelers: 19,593

Electric four-wheelers: 752

Non-electric four-wheelers: 26,372

Hybrid: 263