EV adoption: In March, Chandigarh drops to fourth place

Due to the lack of necessary infrastructure, the city’s adoption rate of electric cars (EVs) dropped to fourth place nationally in March.

As to the evreayindia.org webpage, Chandigarh’s ranking has begun to decline, despite being the nation’s most EV-adopting city from September 2023 to January 2024. The city ranked second in February for EV adoption, after Goa.

Goa has registered 1,911 registrations, ranking first on the list with 26.82%. Delhi has 10,836 registrations (19.9%), which puts it in second place. With 1,216 registrations and a 19.2% EV adoption rate in March, Tripura ranks third. Chandigarh saw a decline to fourth place with 621 registrations (18.6%). In March, 128 vehicles and SUVs (or 9.21% of all EV adoption) were registered in the UT, while 215 electric two-wheelers (or 14.06%) were registered.

In order to encourage a transition to more environmentally friendly modes of transportation, the UT Administration launched a five-year EV Policy in September 2022 with the intention of progressively stopping the registration of fuel-powered cars.

Administrator Banwarilal Purohit of UT lifted the ban on registrations for non-electric vehicles, such as two-wheelers, four-wheelers, and commercial vehicles, on November 23 of last year.

In only 23 days in November 2023, almost 350 electric cars were registered. However, from November 24 to March 31 of this year, just 839 electric two-wheelers and 569 electric four-wheelers, respectively, had been registered against 7,886 and 7,959 non-electric ones.

53 charging stations in the city still hadn’t been turned on, despite the UT Administrator’s orders. Purohit had ordered on March 8 that all 53 charging stations be operational by the end of the month, but given that components had been stolen from a few units, it was probably going to take an extra month to do the job.

The subsidy on the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) has been placed on hold by the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) due to the model code of conduct being implemented in the city for the Lok Sabha elections on June 1.

According to an official, anybody who applied for an EV subsidy would not get it until the election process was over. The Chandigarh Renewable Energy Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST) officials said that although individuals may still apply, the subsidy has been discontinued as a result of the poll code’s adoption.

Once the Registration and Licensing Authority (RLA) has stamped and completed the vehicle documentation, these papers are placed with CREST. All applicants requesting subsidies will have their file work completed so long as the code of conduct is in effect. Following this, as soon as the election process is over, the subsidy amount will be deposited into the voters’ bank accounts.

The Administration established a subsidy program to encourage the use of electric cars; so far, around Rs 20 crore has been made available. Over the last two years, Chandigarh has registered 70–80 autos every month on average, along with 150 electric two-wheelers. The EV policy in Chandigarh offers category-specific subsidies based on battery capacity. A minimum subsidy ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 2 lakh is offered.