In the past 5 years, Chandigarh has registered more than 4,000 electric vehicles. The UT Administration has not yet set up a public charging station in Chandigarh.
This issue was brought up in the Rajya Sabha. General V K Singh (retd), Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways responded to a question in Rajya Sabha. He stated that there are 4,161 registered electric vehicles in Chandigarh and six charging points are operational.
Under Phase I of FAME India, 48 charging stations were approved by the Centre. 23 of the 37 fast-charging stations that were approved under FAME-II have been installed. These stations are still not functional.
According to a senior official of the Chandigarh Administration, the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society, the 6 charging stations referred to in the Rajya Sabha are all private charging stations.
“We have yet to set up public charging stations. 23 public charging stations are nearly ready. The agency has a lease issue. “Operations will start once the lease issue has been resolved,” said the officer.
Residents of Chandigarh who have an electric vehicles currently charge their vehicles at home. They can also charge their vehicles at a private charging station, which is about Rs 18 an hour.
In the first two years, 100 public charging stations will be installed
The Chandigarh Administration notified the electric vehicle policy 2022 to Chandigarh in September with the aim of making Chandigarh an EV-friendly city.
According to the proposal, 100 public charging stations in the UT will be installed within the first two years under the EV policy. All petrol stations will be required to install charging stations within six months. Owners will arrange for charging stations to be installed in nearby parking areas if there is not enough space.
Chandigarh had set Rs 8 per unit to charge slow and moderate charging, Rs 10 for fast charging, and Rs 11 for battery swapping.
According to the administration, a mobile app will be developed by CREST soon for consumers. It will provide information about charging stations, including updates on time slots, type of station and load, location, tariff, and other relevant details. On the ground, however, there has been no progress since the policy was implemented.
After 4 years, fuel-based car registrations will be cut to 50%
The Chandigarh Administration declared itself an EV-friendly city and stated in the policy that they would completely stop registrations for petrol-powered two-wheelers within two years. In the same manner, personal fuel-based vehicles will see a 50 percent reduction in registrations after four years. The Chandigarh Administration set targets for each vehicle category and also stated that they will not only provide a subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh to R 2 lakh for electric vehicles but that even the road tax would be waived for them.
