In a bid to support adoption of sustainable and clean mobility solutions, the Maharashtra Government on Tuesday released the Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy which takes care of demand and supply sides. The objective is to accelerate adoption of BEVs in the state so that they contribute to 10% of new vehicle registration by 2025. Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray, who released the policy in the presence of minister of state for environment Sanjay Bansode, additional chief secretary Ashish Singh, Environment Department Principal Secretary Manisha Mhaiskar and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board chairman Abasaheb Jarhad, said the policy prioritizes public and shared transport, goods carriers and two wheelers to drive adoption of EVs. The government will develop a communication plan focused on driving awareness regarding the key elements of the policy and the benefits of adopting EVs.
The government will set up an EV fund and also form a state EV secretariat to monitor day to day operations of the policy. The policy will be valid tll March 31, 2025.
The policy proposes to achieve 25% electrification of public transport and last mile delivery vehicles by 2025 in the five targeted urban agglomeration in the state, convert 15% of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’s existing bus fleet to electric, make Maharashtra the country’s top producer of BEVs in India in terms of annual production capacity. Besides, the policy aims at target establishment of at least one Gigafactory for the manufacturing of advanced chemistry cell batteries and promote research and development, innovation and skill development across the EV eco system.
The government targets 10% of EVs of new vehicle registration, 10% of two wheelers, 20% of three wheelers and 5% of four wheelers in 2025. At least 25% of the urban fleet operated by the fleet aggregators/operators in the state to transition will be EVs by 2025. This will apply to e-commerce companies, last mile companies, last mile delivery, logistic players and mobility aggregators operating in urban areas.
In the five targeted urban areas, the government aims to achieve 25% electrification of public transport by 2025 and convert the existing MSRTC bus fleet to 15% electric fleet. The government has also set city wise targets of public and semi-public charging stations and also on highways.
Incentives
Buyers purchasing EVs except e buses before December 31, 2021 will be eligible for early bird discount of Rs 5,000 per kWh of the vehicle battery capacity. This discount will be over and above the demand incentives. The maximum early bird discount per vehicle will be capped at Rs 1 lakh.
For vehicles sold without battery, 50% of the incentive amount will be provided to the vehicle OEM and the remaining incentive amount up to 50% will be provided to the battery swapping energy operator for defraying the cost of any deposits that may be required from the end user for the use of type approved swappable battery, type approved along with corresponding OEM vehicles.
All the EVs sold will be exempted from road tax till the duration of the policy. All the EVs sold will be exempted from the payment of fees for purpose of issue or renewal of registration certificate.
The vehicles eligible for demand incentives under this policy will be eligible for the scrappage incentive. The state government will engage and encourage financial institutions and banks to offer preferential interest rates of EV customer segments like e autos, good carriers and taxis.
The charging station will be eligible for the incentives only after the commencement of the operation of the station.
As far as supply side incentives are concerned, all benefits under D plus category of mega projects/other categories will be provided to industries engaged in EV component manufacturing, vehicle assembly, battery assembly, cell manufacturing, recycling of EVs and EV batteries. These sops will be irrespective of location of manufacturing unit in the state.
