Potential buyers of non-electric vehicles are likely to get a relief in the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy, as the UT Administration is going to review the policy on Monday.
The UT Administration has decided to review the policy in view of the provision to stop the registration of non-electric two-wheelers on achieving the target of 6,202 in the 2023-24 financial year. Till June 28, 5,500 non-electric two-wheelers had been registered in the city and the target is likely to be achieved by the first week of July. The registration of non-electric two-wheelers would not be done once the target of 6,202 is achieved.
Similarly, there will be no registration of four-wheelers once the target of 22,626 non-electric four-wheelers is achieved for the current financial year. The target is likely to be achieved by December. During a recent meeting of the Governing Body of the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST), the nodal agency for implementation of EV policy in the city, officials were asked to prepare an analytical report on implementation of the policy.
In a bid to gradually phase out two-wheelers and three-wheelers running on internal combustion engines (ICE), the administration planned to register a minimum of 35% electric two-wheelers in 2022-23, 70% in 2023-24 and 100% from 2024-25.
In order to limit and discourage the use of non-electric vehicles, a reduction of 10% in four-wheelers and 35% in two-wheelers compared to the preceding year had been planned in the first year by way of capping their registration in the city. A reduction of 20% in four-wheelers and 70% in two-wheelers has been planned for the current financial year (2023-24).
In order to promote green transportation, the UT Transport Department has also stopped the registration of non-electric school, tourist and factory buses till September 30.
As per the EV Policy, the quota of registering 50 buses has been exhausted and fresh registration of new diesel-run buses would start again from October 1. The registration will again be stopped once 50 more buses are registered.
However, the UT is likely to procure 80 more electric buses by September, which would increase the registration quota limit by 30 to 80 diesel buses in the second half.
The quota for the year had been divided into two parts. While that of the first six months was over, the registration of buses in the second half of the year would start from October.
Nearly 3,500 buses are currently running on diesel in the city, including 2,000 school buses, 1,000 tourist and factory buses, and around 500 Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) buses. The Transport Department plans to add 100 more electric buses to its existing fleet of 80 such vehicles this year.