Chandigarh to review EV Policy, likely to restore incentive on e-cars

The UT Administration is likely to restore the incentive given on purchase of electric four-wheelers registered in the city. However, a decision in this regard will be taken in a meeting to be held soon to review of the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy, which was launched in September 2022.

The UT Administration had in May this year discontinued the incentives given on purchase of electric cars as the quota fixed in the EV Policy had exhausted. Officials said that stakeholders had also been asked to give suggestions to further make improvements in the policy. Some changes will be made in the policy to make it more attractive so that more and more people switch to green mobility, they added.

According to the policy, the incentive was to be given to the buyers of first 2,000 cars only. After full utilisation of the quota, new buyers are not be eligible for the incentive, but they continue to avail of other benefits such as a complete waiver on registration fee and road tax.

In the policy, the UT Administration has offered incentives in the range from Rs 3,000 to Rs 2 lakh for the first 42,000 buyers of e-vehicles of all categories during the policy period of five years. The policy offers an incentive of Rs 3,000 to the buyers of first 25,000 e-bicycles and a maximum of Rs 30,000 to the buyers of first 10,000 e-two-wheelers. The buyers of the first 2,000 electric cars had availed of financial benefit in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh each.

Criticising the Administration for withdrawing the financial benefits on buying electric cars, Avtar Singh, a resident of Sector 47, said that if the authorities were serious about making the city carbon free by 2030, they have to offer more incentives, as electric vehicles were still costlier than those running on fossil fuel.

Chandigarh