Karnataka To Offer Incentives To Further EV Adoption

With an eye on increasing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the Karnataka government reportedly plans to offer incentives and cut taxes on such vehicles.

Citing a draft document, Reuters reported that the government also plans to offer incentives of up to 25% on capital investments by EV manufacturers. EV battery component makers and charging gear manufacturers will also be eligible for these sops.

The move is part of the state government’s plan to promote clean mobility. Besides EVs, the government is also looking to drop road tax and registration charges for hybrid vehicles, the report said.

Earlier this year, the Uttar Pradesh government also waived registration charges for strong hybrid vehicles. 

The development is in line with the push of the Centre and the state governments to promote adoption of EVs. A number of state governments, including Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, have come out with dedicated EV policies to increase the sale of such vehicles.

Earlier today, Indian Express reported that the Delhi government is working on EV policy 2.0.

Meanwhile, the union cabinet recently cleared the ‘PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme’, which would replace the FAME-II scheme, for the promotion of EVs.

Under the scheme, the Centre will provide subsidies and demand incentives worth INR 3,679 Cr for electric two-wheelers (E2Ws), three-wheelers (E3Ws), ambulances, trucks and other emerging EVs. 

With this, the government aims to support 24.79 Lakh E2Ws, 3.16 Lakh E3Ws, and 14,028 ebuses. 

Along with PM E-DRIVE, the cabinet also approved the ‘PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) scheme’ with an outlay of INR 3,435.33 Cr for procurement and operation of ebuses by public transport authorities.

As a result of the push by the governments, adoption of EVs is on the rise in the country. Buoyed by this, two-wheeler EV manufacturer Ola Electric went public earlier this year. Meanwhile, its rival Ather Energy is awaiting SEBI’s nod to go ahead with its IPO.

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