Punjab approves draft EV Policy, to offer heavy incentives on electric vehicles

Punjab will soon get its own policy for electric vehicles. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has approved the draft EV policy for the state, which will offer heavy incentives for those choosing the greener mode of transport. The Aam Aadmi Party, which also is in rule in Delhi, was first to come up with a comprehensive electric vehicle policy in the national capital under Arvind Kejriwal. The EV policy proposed for Punjab will waive off registration fee and road tax for EV buyers as well as offer cash incentives.

According to the draft EV policy for Punjab, the first one lakh electric vehicle buyers in the state will get incentives of up to ₹10,000 besides the waived off taxes. The Punjab EV Policy aims to promote electric vehicles in cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, and Bathinda. These cities contribute to more than 50 per cent of vehicles plying in the state. The draft policy aims around 25 per cent of vehicles on the roads of these cities to be electric.

Besides ₹10,000 incentive for the first one lakh EV buyers, the draft policy also proposes first 10,000 buyers of electric auto rickshaw and e-rickshaw to get a concession of up to ₹30,000. The first 5,000 e-cart buyers will get an incentive up to ₹30,000 and first 5,000 buyers of light commercial vehicles will get an incentive ranging between ₹30,000 and ₹50,000.

Mann said that his government is also setting up electric vehicle charging points to improve the infrastructure for private and public electric vehicles. He also said that the state government is trying to become a hub for manufacturing electric vehicles, EV batteries and other EV components. Punjab was one of the states which tried to woo Tesla CEO Elon Musk to set up its facility in the state when he had complained about challenges to sell his EVs in India.