Chandigarh Transport Undertaking on Thursday said that it has floated a tender for 40 electric buses and charging stations. According to the draft EV policy issued by Chandigarh, the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has fixed Rs 4 per unit and Rs 100 for a fixed monthly charge on the electric bill for the charging stations.
This comes as a small but concrete step towards adopting electric mobility as soon as possible in an attempt to become a smart city under the Smart Cities Mission of the Ministry of Urban Development. Moreover, Chandigarh, known to be the city beautiful, has the highest density of vehicles in India (around 1.2 million cars) and is looking forward to adopting EVs aggressively as it faces a massive challenge in maintaining the deteriorating air quality.
According to a report, Chandigarh aims at becoming ‘one of the world’s leading clean vehicle cities’ while promoting ‘R&D, innovation, and skill development in the electric vehicle sector.’ UT has proposed the following to achieve its goals:
- Only EVs to be registered in the city after 2030.
- To have an all-electric fleet of public buses by 2027.
- To have an all-electric government fleet by 2025.
- To have all-electric rickshaws, corporate fleets, cabs, and school buses/vans on the road by 2030.
- To install 1,000 public EV chargers by 2030.
Additional EV incentives for buyers
The UT government has proposed steps to increase EV adoption in Chandigarh. These incentives include direct subsidy, exclusive for first 3,000 buyers, of Rs 20,000 for buyers of electric two- and three-wheelers; 100% exemption in road tax and registration charges up to 2024 on EV purchases; free insurance for first 1,000 EV buyers in the city for one year; dedicated free parking slots reserved for EVs in all government-owned parking spaces and all commercial buildings, education institutions and RWAs will be required to have reserved parking space for EVs with charging facilities and a 30% dedicated parking spaces for EVs in new public parking lots in the city.
Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released a report stating that India has the potential to be the world’s largest EV market in the world. Christoph Wolff, head of mobility at WEF, said that the government’s role is crucial for accelerating adoption.
Cab-hailing platform Ola has already started taking measures to be a part of the EV revolution. Recently, Hyundai Motor India revealed its plan to supply affordable electric vehicles to homegrown Ola by 2022.
According to the reports, Delhi’s objective is to bring about a material improvement in its air quality by bringing down emissions from the transport sector. Also, to drive the rapid adoption of battery electric vehicles with the goal of their constituting 25% of all new vehicle registrations by 2023.
It concludes with an unanswered question, “While the Indian EV ecosystem takes measured steps on this path towards sustainability, how will India as a whole transition?”
