The parliamentary committee on estimates has recommended the government for formulation of a comprehensive national policy on electric vehicles (EV).
In its report on the ‘Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Policy’, the panel chaired by member of parliament Girish Bhalchandra Bapat noted that Centre had launched the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 in 2013 and experiences and feedback on the plan should also be used in formulating a new policy.
“It was believed that with the commitment and support of all stakeholders, 6-7 million units of new vehicle sales of EVs, could be achieved by 2020. The committee note with regret that the target 6-7 million units of EVs was not achieved as only around 1.4 million electric vehicles were being used on the roads of India as on 3rd August, 2022. It has been a decade since MHI had launched the NEMMP 2020,” the report said.
It said that the although transport is a state subject and some states have formulated their own EV policies, a “strong National Policy framework on EVs” needs to be formulated.
“The committee, therefore, urge the government to frame a comprehensive National Policy on EV by incorporating the elements of successful state models and international best practices,” the committee said in its report.
The policy should also focus on charging infrastructure, battery swapping, battery waste recycling, public awareness in addition to the demand and supply side incentives such as lower GST, waiving road tax, registration fee, hire-purchase scheme at discounted interest rates by financial institutions for buying EVs among others.
The panel also suggested the continuation of the FAME II scheme beyond March 2024 and also said that four wheelers should be included under the scheme to boost demand.
“The committee recommends that the government should consider remodelling the subsidy on electric four wheelers similar to that of electric two wheelers i.e. demand incentive may be increased to at ₹15000 per KWh from at ₹10000 per KWh and the cap on incentives for Electric 4 Wheelers may be increased to 40% of the cost of vehicles from 20% cost of vehicles.”
The government may also consider incentivizing a range of the vehicle in addition to the subsidy being given on per unit power of the battery.
Noting that several states have waived off or reduced the road tax on EVs and these states are not getting any compensation for the loss of revenue, Centre said that the committee said that Centre should compensate states for the waiver and reduction.
“The committee believe that this will encourage all the states to provide such waiver on road tax on EVs, which will result in faster adoption of EVs all over the country.”
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