Govt Asks Chandigarh To Submit EV Ecosystem Progress Report

The central government has sought progress reports on promotional steps that Chandigarh administration has taken to boost electric vehicle(EV) infrastructure in the union territory (UT).

The Centre had asked the administrative body to start working towards developing an EV ecosystem in August 2019.

An official in Chandigarh Administration told TOI that it has got the approval from Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) to fix power tariff plans for EV charging stations in the UT. JERC has set INR 4 per unit as the power tariff for vehicle charging stations. Moreover, it has also fixed the commission at INR 100 for monthly charge.

The UT is also currently working on promoting hybrid and electric vehicles. In addition to this, the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) is planning to introduce 40 electric buses in its fleet and will also be working on the development of charging points across the cities.

Each bus will cost around INR 5 Cr and the central govt has agreed to fund 60% of the total cost. The government has also introduced close to 3K e-rickshaws in the UT.

The UT’s draft policy also mentions that Chandigarh will become one of the world’s leading clean vehicle cities and would promote research and development, innovation and skill development in the EV sector. This can also be attributed to the fact that Chandigarh has the highest density of vehicles in India.

To ensure the implementation is successful, Chandigarh has set few agendas like offering incentives to encourage people to adopt electric vehicles.

• Buyers of two-wheeler and three-wheelers EV can avail a direct subsidy of INR 20,000, however, the policy is only valid for the first 3,000 customers.
• The first 1,000 EV buyers will get free insurance.
• Moreover, free parking slots will be reserved for EVs in all government-owned parking spaces. All the commercial buildings, education institutions and RWAs, parking space will also have EV charging facilities
• Dedicated parking spaces (30%) for EVs in new public parking lots.

According to a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), in collaboration with Ola electric Institute (OEI), stated that India has the potential to become the largest EV market in the world.